And all else will fade
by psquare
Summary: SanMir. Miroku's life is threatened by something terrible... and it's not the black hole in his hand. Sango's the only one who can save him, but can she do it before time runs out... for everybody? COMPLETE.
1. Fading

_**Fading…**_

_**Miroku**_

It was the end of the world.

A bottomless chasm stretched out as far as the eye could see, and beyond, to infinite space, dotted with twinkling stars. It was truly where heaven met Earth; where the poor mortal souls were reminded that everything they did was watched by the Divine Entity above, that their fates were mastered by a greater Force than could ever be imagined. I shivered in the cold and awe.

Kagome came up beside me, wrapping her thick coat closer around her body. "It is a pretty big cliff, isn't it?"

The casualness and complete disregard in her voice annoyed me slightly. It was a work of Divine Art, and yet the young priestess chose to treat it as any normal cliff? Maybe in the future, in her time, there were places more awe-inspiring than this. Maybe it was just the arrogance that accompanied people from the future. Maybe…

Sango, from where she was sitting beside the fire, warming her hands, spoke. "Yeah. But Kirara can take us over easily, I guess."

Oh. Maybe I was the only one. The only one with any sort of imagination, poetic sense, _feeling_… _And all these induced by what?_, a sly voice asked within me. I chose to ignore it. Sure, my… creative talents have been honed over the years by wooing many a young woman, but I must admit, such spontaneity was rather unnatural.

A small tingle from my right hand interrupted my thoughts. I looked down to the cursed hand, my forehead creasing. Oh, well. My sudden increase in poetic talents was definitely the least of my worries, now.

Sango seemed to have noticed my looking at my cursed hand, for she came up to me, her eyes filled with concern. "Is anything wrong, Miroku?" she asked. I grinned easily at her. "Nothing at all, my dear Sango," I said, my hand moving deftly toward her bottom. "But I thank you for-"

_Slap!_

I found myself on the ground, my cheek burning as if it were on fire, and Sango glowering over me. "Stupid pervert," she hissed, turning on her heel. Inu Yasha gave a small chuckle as I got painfully to my feet. "You thank her for _that_?" he asked mockingly.

I shot him a cold look. "I think it seems obvious to any body with brains here that it was _not_ what I was thanking her for."

Inu Yasha scowled. "Yeah, yeah," he said dismissively, from the tree he was lying on. "I was just joking, ya know."

Shippo put an air of mock surprise. "Inu Yasha cracked a joke? Something must be wrong! You sure he doesn't have a fever or-" He was interrupted by Inu Yasha jumping down and driving his knuckles into Shippo's head. The young fox-demon squealed and started running, Inu Yasha following him round and round the tree, until the two collapsed, and we had nearly fainted with the dizziness of watching them.

Finally the camp settled down for some sleep. Inu Yasha settled comfortably on the tree branch, the half-demon's ears perked up; Kagome and Sango in their sleeping bags and Shippo sleeping snuggled against Kirara's body. I leant against the tree Inu Yasha was on, in my meditating pose, arms folded, head down, eyes seemingly closed… but not really asleep. Nowadays, I was actually afraid to sleep; afraid of my dreams. The weight of the black hole in my hand on my mind was not noticeable outside, but it was there- the fear- simmering within me. As the occasional jolts of pain from my black hole grow more frequent, so would my dreams- dreams painted with blood, sadness, pain, loss… a whirlwind of darkness that swallows all light, all love, all _hope_; that swallows itself, leaving nothing but an infinite black.

I shuddered and cursed myself for re-entering that course of thought. It wouldn't do anything other than despair me, and despair was exactly what I _didn't _need. I had realised this from a very early point in my life: that moping about my fate was only going to get me killed, and that the short life I would get to live would be full of useless sorrow. I had to keep on trying and live life to the fullest when I could. I had to maintain a cheerful façade outside, to hide the pain and fear within. It is ironic, I realise now, that I blame Sango for the same thing: burying her sorrow over Kohaku and her family; trying to be brave, bottling up her emotions to the point where it could even be dangerous to her and those around her. Ultimately, in situations like mine and Sango's, it's a battle between normal human nature and our will.

Usually, it is human nature that wins.

That's part of the reason I possess such a… _flirtatious_ nature, I suppose (along with the dratted genes): to keep too busy to acknowledge human nature's victory, especially at the end of an exhausting day, where the momentary pleasure I obtain while with beautiful women is a temporary alembic to my emotional pain.

Temporary.

I sighed and opened my eyes, abandoning all pretence of sleep. I stared at the last crackles of the ebbing fire, prodding it gently with a stick. I marvelled at the shadows the flames threw over Sango's beautiful face, bringing out an ethereal, angelic beauty in her as she slept peacefully. Well… not peacefully. The slightest twitch of her eyebrows, the gentle downward tug her lovely lips took occasionally, a regular flickering of her eyelashes… they stirred the calm beauty of her face, being plain indicators to me that she was dreaming about her brother and the massacre of her village again. I wished sincerely that I could do something to ease her sorrow…

Maybe one of the reasons I've become more emotional, more susceptible to my inner demons is because of… _her_. I've been with many women, and, speaking in strictly a third observer's terms, more than a few of them were more beautiful than Sango. But all of them had been empty vessels: beautiful, but with no matter of importance within them. Sango, though…

Sango was beautiful in every way imaginable- in the depth of not only her physical features, but also of her character, her courage, the quiet dignity with which she carried herself… those subtle gestures of compassion she showed frequently… all those made her beautiful in a way no woman in Japan, okay, the _world_ could ever be. I had been taken in by her right from the, well, second time we saw each other: the first time she rewarded me with a slap for my movements toward her. That was when I truly fell for her, in a way different from any other woman.

My eyes strayed involuntarily from her face to my rosary-covered right hand.

And yet…

I just didn't want to cause her further pain.

Suddenly, at that moment, I felt inexplicably tired, deflated, exhausted with coping with everything; putting on a mask of perennial cheerfulness and fun. My eyelids drooped, as if pulled down by heavy weights. The blanket of sleep beckoned invitingly to my tired body. I made one last, futile attempt to stay awake, away from those dreams… but finally I had to give in. _Another win for human nature_, I thought almost bitterly, before my mind slipped into sleep.

Strangely, this time, I didn't dream at all.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 

The morning came in all its glory, wonderful sunshine sweeping over my sleeping form, the lush green landscape and the ring of charcoal and stones that had once been a fire. The dark, almost sinister nature of the woods nearby dissipated immediately, and the 'end of the world' was proved to have a bottom; it created an aura of peacefulness and natural oneness that had never failed to rejuvenate anyone. I opened my eyes to this beautiful sight, taking deep breaths of fresh air and with much stretching of limbs (mainly to fix that inevitable cramp in the neck), I stood up, automatically reaching for my staff, where I usually kept it: by my side. After a few moments of groping, I turned my eyes toward the spot.

It was not there.

_What!_ When my staff went missing, it meant something was wrong; terribly wrong. No, rephrase that, I _felt_ something was terribly wrong. Without my staff in my hand, I always feel… vulnerable.

Still groping around frantically, I got to my feet. "Hey, Inu Yasha!" I called, looking up to the tree branch, "Have you seen my…?" I trailed off, because I realised that he was not there. I spun around in a slow, baffled circle, realising the startling fact that _nobody_ was there. "Kagome! Shippo! Sango!" I called their names one by one, my voice growing higher and higher pitched at the chilling silence.

_Where is everybody?_

They couldn't have left me behind, could they? No, of course not. They wouldn't even think of doing that. That meant there was only one other possibility, thinking of which my heart thudded painfully against my ribs. _Did they fall into some kind of danger? Hell, do I have amnesia or something?_

I clenched my hands into fists, falling into a slow breathing cycle to calm myself. When I felt sombre enough to think straight, I went systematically through the possibilities. They might have gone for a walk, but they would never go without informing me, and besides, at least one of us has to stay back. The same went for baths. And there were no visible signs of any sort of battles, and I couldn't sense any demons nearby. How much ever I thought, it only boiled down to one thing: they had left; left without me.

A sickening, white-hot feeling of anger, betrayal, and sorrow flooded my chest. _How could they do this…?_

Suddenly, at that moment, I caught a metallic glint a little ahead of me. Aha! Was it some clue to what had happened? As I approached it, though, it became clear it wasn't. It was my staff, which was halfway embedded in the ground. _How did it get that way?_ I wondered vaguely, plucking it out of the ground. As my fingers closed over the cold, reassuring steel, my pride came back in full force. So what if Inu Yasha and the others had left me behind? I could, had and will survive and succeed without them. My meeting with them was just like the experiences many princesses had had with me: pleasurable, knowledgeable, but temporary; a bitter ending wrought with heart-sickness, betrayal, and sorrow; a lesson learnt about life's cruel ways, a lesson that will no doubt take you far in life.

As I tightened my grip on the staff and turned to commence my journey to the nearest village, a picture flashed in my mind: of a delicate oval face, framed by silky black hair, magenta eyes that were always full of determination, beautiful yet calloused hands, bruised by wielding the Hiraikatsu… I gritted my teeth, forcing the image of Sango out of my mind. I mustn't let memories deter my journey- my quest to kill Naraku, extract revenge.

As I continued walking, I felt a great evil presence suddenly close in around everything, mists of darkness swirled around, effectively spoiling the aura of peacefulness and natural beauty, choking all life- wait, there had been _no_ life to start with! I realised with shock that Kagome and group hadn't been the only ones to disappear: all human life had disappeared with them. The darkness thickened, cutting off the golden sunshine, forming a mist so chill, so deep, that for a moment I thought that I was in the black hole. I cast a glance at my hand- the curse was still there- I could feel it throbbing ever so slightly- secured by the sacred beads. I lifted my terrified eyes back toward the darkening heavens, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

_Am I in hell…!_


	2. Desperation and revelation

_**Sango**_

_The blood tinged darkness cleared slowly, like the effect produced by a finger-flick against a beaker of super-saturated solution. The clink of metal, the rustle of cloth and the sound of purposeful footsteps against the rock-strewn ground sounded ominous to my ears. My heart raced with a speed unknown to any man, and a sudden surge of adrenaline nearly toppled me over. I was afraid- yes, very afraid, but painful, impossible hope clouded my soul at the same time, leading to a heady mix of emotions that was equal to any torture I might have faced as a demon-slayer, before._

_Even more._

_The source of the sounds that was causing me so much pain materialised in the distance- a black, small silhouette approaching closer and closer… Finally, I could see… **him**__Painfully empty brown eyes stared back at me, small, familiar, hands wielded the dangerous katana, holding it in a strategic position, so that, if thrown, it would pierce my heart._

_Kohaku, my brother… a cold monster, controlled by Naraku._

_I dropped the Hiraikatsu by my side and rushed to him, my vision blurred by tears, my arms open, to envelop him in an embrace. "Kohaku!" I cried out, my voice cracking. As my arms closed around him, and his brown eyes showed a spark of emotion, I felt great hope… yes, Kohaku was remembering… remembering all those times we spent together in training, playing, his family, village, his old life, which was filled with such love, harmony… a life that was rudely cut short._

_That moment did not last long, however._

_His katana came up and about, driving deep into my chest, blasting me into whole new galaxies of pain. He stepped back, taking his katana excruciatingly slowly out of my body, the blade skidding through tissue, muscle and organs. I fell down on a pool of my own blood. _

"_Sorry, _**sister, **_but you cannot fool me."_

_With that, he was gone… and with him all hope, all purpose, all good…_

_-_

"Um, Sango? Sango!"

I opened my eyes and sat up with a start, brow dotted with cold sweat. Kagome was beside me, her brown eyes radiating concern and sympathy. "Sango, are you okay, now? You were screaming a few moments ago and…" Kagome trailed off, not wanting to continue. Shippo bounced up to stand beside the young miko. "Yeah, Sango, you okay?"

I looked away, getting to my feet. Sympathy. Ugh, how I hated that word! It was nothing but a waste of emotional strength, and finally, it served no real purpose. Sympathy was for weak, impractical idiots, who can't move on after one failure. It was definitely not for _me_.

"I am quite all right, Kagome," I said quietly. While Shippo started with his endless "Really? Are you sure?", Kagome nodded and remained silent, for which I was grateful to her.

I headed off to a nearby stream and washed my face. I stared into the water, my reflection rippling gently in the calm waters. The strain was evident: my pale countenance, the circles under my eyes and the ultimate, tired, glazed look in my irises scared me. Was I allowing my own emotions about Kohaku to master me? That can't be good. The more I allowed myself to wallow in self-pity, the less chance I had to defeat Naraku and find a way to get my brother back.

When you're a demon slayer, as a rule, you don't let your emotions cloud your judgement. When pity is felt whenever a demon is killed, it only serves an impediment to the successful completion of the extermination- if it is not successful, then it only ends in slaughter of human lives.

One of the reasons Kohaku hadn't been as quick as he should've been while climbing up the ranks of demon-slayers had been his compassion. He would mope about even the smallest demon that had been killed ruthlessly. I would laugh about it then, but now, I realise that it had been the one quality that had made Kohaku… be himself. Unique. Maybe he was not the best demon-slayer, but he had been the kindest and most compassionate person in the entire village.

And when I compare that Kohaku with the cold, empty, ruthless person I see today…

I was almost glad I was the only person from my family to suffer the heartache.

_Get a hold of yourself, Sango_, I instructed myself, shaking my head. I didn't want to worry the others by putting on a gloomy face; they had enough worries on their plate already.

I went back to the camp, where I found that the others were already preparing to leave. Kagome was scolding Inu Yasha for something- his face was almost completely buried in the ground, thanks to her incessant commands of "SIT!"- Shippo was enjoying the spectacle while hefting Kagome's extraordinarily heavy bag onto her strange vehicle (bicycle, she called it) and Kirara was leisurely licking her paws. And Miroku…

Wait, where _was_ Miroku?

I voiced my question aloud, to which Kagome spared Inu Yasha for a couple of moments to answer, "I don't know, Sango. I haven't seen him since last night." She cast a glare at Inu Yasha, who had just started to get up, tentatively massaging his bruised face. "_He_ says that we shouldn't waste time looking for him, that Miroku will catch up."

The half-demon scowled. "I didn't phrase it like that, you wench. He must have gone for a walk somewhere around here."

While Kagome picked up the fierce argument (it couldn't be called an argument, really; she didn't allow Inu Yasha a chance to get a word in), I lapsed into my own thoughts. Call me paranoid, but I had a really bad feeling that the lecherous monk was in some kind of danger, terrible danger… No, I couldn't just let another person I care about be taken away from me. I couldn't. I made my decision.

I picked up the Hiraikatsu. "Kirara!" I called. She came almost immediately, transforming into her true demon self. I jumped onto her and we began to leave.

"Hey, Sango! Where are you going!" Kagome asked. I looked at her. "I'm going to look for Miroku," I said with quiet conviction that effectively silenced any doubts she might have wanted to voice.

With that, Kirara and I took off.

Inu Yasha stared at Kagome for a second, and then shook his head. He turned around, beckoning for Kagome to climb onto his back.

"How is it that you inevitably win the argument?"

* * *

After a couple of hours, we met up at the camping place again, despair and the heat sapping our strength. I got down from a very tired Kirara, my forehead creased with worry. We had even been to his Munshin's place, but the old man hadn't seen him for a while, either. It wasn't like Miroku to leave without telling us. He may be lecherous, but I was sure… at least _had been_ sure… that he had some sense.

Inu Yasha clenched and unclenched his fists in frustration while Kagome got down from his back, her face taking on worry lines similar to mine. "The stupid monk!" Inu Yasha cried out, unable to hold back his anger anymore. "Hasn't he learnt his lesson already? I mean for the _second_ time…" he trailed off sputtering, his anger overwhelming him to the point where he couldn't express it coherently.

"What do you mean, Inu Yasha?" I asked, though I knew perfectly what he had meant. I just didn't want to think about it. It was, strangely, painful.

The half-demon gave me an unexpectedly perceptive, knowing glance. "You know very well what I mean, Sango."

Damn. How did the hanyou get so perceptive? Or are all those months of hanging around with Kagome finally rubbing off on him?

Kagome gave a small smile. "Too bad one of Naraku's insects isn't there to guide us to him this time."

The half-hearted attempt at humour served only to cause my heart to drop to my sandals. The last time, his black hole had been nicked, and he had gone to Munshin's without telling us to fix it, where he nearly got killed by a horde of demons… We had managed to save him just in the nick of time, having been lead to him by one of Naraku's poisonous insects.

Now, though…

Now, we might just be too late.

The thought of that possibility stung more than Naraku's acid-blood. With Miroku dying, or dead, I felt loneliness that I never thought a human would be capable of feeling. I had never really paid attention to my feelings about the monk- sure, I had had occasional flutters of affection for him, which would be inevitably spoiled by his lecherous advances toward me. But maybe, just maybe, my feelings for him ran deeper than that…

I had always harboured a distinct admiration for Miroku; to bear the black hole and the burgeoning certainty that he would soon have to make a violent transition to the ranks of the dead, just like his forefathers did, with such bravery and outward cheerfulness and optimism commanded a lot of power of character. Which was also why I didn't understand why he had to such a womaniser.

His capers, strangely, always cheered me up. Sometimes, when I looked into the depths of his enigmatic indigo-blue eyes, I felt like he knew understood me to my very core, that he felt true sadness for what I was suffering; that he even looked at me with… with…

A shrill, awed whistle from Shippo and a growl from Kirara derailed my train of thought. "What is _that_?" the young kitsune cried, his voice wrought with fear and curiosity.

I shifted my gaze to the source of his curiosity. Inu Yasha's and Kagome's gazes followed mine. A black funnel cloud seemed to rise from the nearby woods, nearly blocking out the sun. For a moment, I wondered if it might be Naraku, making one of his more grandiose entrances, but as the funnel cloud came closer to us, and I had a feel of its immense energy, I realised even Naraku wasn't capable of such dark energy- it was something worse. Kagome swayed and nearly fell; Inu Yasha caught her just in the nick of time. He raised a concerned, questioning glance up at me.

I did not answer, though I had an inkling of what the problem with Kagome might be. Her perceptive senses were much more sensitive than mine, and if I could feel the dark energy so profoundly, it must be overwhelming her senses, much like how too much smells overwhelmed Inu Yasha's sensitive nose.

The cloud materialised into what might be vaguely taken for a human silhouette. A voice boomed from no where.

"_Mortals, you seek the monk, do you not?_"

Wow. Doesn't it get to the point immediately.

"So what if we do, huh?" Inu Yasha said, his hand moving toward the handle of the Tetsusaiga.

"_Do not interrupt, infidel,_" it said, in a supremely disinterested tone. A great power blew, blasting Inu Yasha back a couple of metres. He lay on the ground, unmoving. "Inu Yasha!" Kagome cried weakly.

She stumbled toward the fallen hanyou. I remained fixed in my stance, however, strangely mesmerised by the dark creature. The silhouette turned fractionally to face me. I could swear that it grinned.

That was before it once again dispersed into a cloud, blowing with the rage of a cyclone toward us… no toward _me_. The dark energy _entered_ me, sweeping and tiding into every pore of my skin, travelling through my blood, reaching a crescendo within my brain…

I fell to my knees, clutching my head.

Suddenly, I _knew_- knew everything, what had happened to Miroku, what was going to happen to us, what we must _do…_

And I didn't like it one bit.

* * *

There's the 2nd chapter. Please review! 


	3. Of souls and Desire

**_Kagome_**

The silence was mortifying.

Sango's face was completely rigid, unrelenting, her lips pursed and white at the edges. Inu Yasha had sunk into his usual sulk and Shippo and Kirara were disturbed and bewildered, to say the least. I was beside myself with worry and confusion mulling over the events that had happened in the past few hours. Miroku's disappearance, that strange, evil… _thing_, whatever had happened to Sango… and we had just continued walking.

My curiosity and fear of what I would know while _satisfying_ that curiosity waged a terrible battle within me, eating away at my soul, bit by bit. Drops of sweat cascaded down my brow, and my fingers picked nervously at my bag strap.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, I couldn't bear it anymore.

"STOP!" I screamed, my emotions tumbling over each other in order to be heard first. Not surprisingly, anger and impatience won the race.

The others turned around to look at me, exhaustion and incredulity intermingling on their faces.

"Aren't we going to look for Miroku?" I asked agitatedly. "_And_ would you mind telling me what in hell happened back there with the whatever-it-was?" The latter question I directed to Sango.

Sango lowered her eyes and the worry lines on her forehead deepened. She took a breath, as if summoning her courage, and looked as if she were about to speak, when Inu Yasha interrupted her.

"The monk is gone," he said shortly. "There's nothing we can do."

My eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "_What!_" It couldn't be…! Sure, Miroku isn't what you would call a perfect 'woman's friend' (whatever that is) but he had been a good friend nevertheless… I couldn't imagine commencing our journey without the lecherous, wise (?), staff-wielding young monk by our side. Just couldn't…

"I'm afraid you're wrong about that, Inu Yasha," Sango said softly, before I could voice anymore loud exclamations of disbelief and grief. "Heh?" The half-demon shifted his gaze to her. "What do you mean, Sango? How could Miroku possibly be alive? Did you _see_ what that _was_?"

Sango nodded. "But it told me something… that there is a way to save Miroku."

Inu Yasha scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Did it, now? I wouldn't trust it too much, ya know. They are known to be very misleading…"

"But this is our only chance. I believe we should take the risk…"

My forehead creased in confusion. "Uh, guys? I think you're losing me here."

Shippo gave a short laugh and stepped forward. "Let _me_ explain," he offered.

"Go ahead."

Shippo settled himself comfortably on my bike seat, lacing his fingers together and resting his chin on them. "That monster, Kagome, was a Soul-eater; probably the most terrifying that has ever been seen in history." He paused dramatically, then continued, "Legend has it that Soul Eaters are born out of the intricate complexities of human emotion. It, in its mildest form, is very common among human beings: there are stages when the human feels sadness so profound that soon he feels emotionally numb- and physically weak. That is when the Soul Eaters make their first strike."

"Or depression," I said, nodding, inwardly smiling at the superstitious labels the Feudal people attached to unexplained phenomena.

"But it usually doesn't work for the Soul Eater, for they are destroyed before they can grow- which they do very slowly," Shippo said.

"How- how are they destroyed?" I asked curiously.

"Tears," Shippo said simply. "Crying- showing your emotions out; cleansing your emotional capacity, so to speak, inhibits the Soul Eater's growth, and, consequentially, destroys them."

I looked at the young fox-demon incredulously. When did Shippo learn to speak like this?

Shippo smiled sheepishly at me, accurately interpreting my facial expression. "When- when father was alive-" he choked a little, and I gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, "we came across a human who wanted to kill us. We killed him easily enough, and it turned out that he possessed various scriptures. My father brought back one and read it to me: the one about the Soul Eaters."

I nodded. "So. Okay, then. Now we know Miroku's in the clutches of an extraordinarily powerful Soul Eater. How did he get that way in the first place?"

Shippo wrinkled his face in thought, thinking back to what his father had told him, ages ago. "As I said earlier, a Soul Eater grows _very_ slowly. Miroku must have been bottling up pretty powerful emotions for a long time, allowing the Soul Eater to feast on them. Now, it has become nearly invincible. It has transported Miroku into his own personal hell: a borderline between death and life."

My eyes widened. Could Miroku really have held back his emotions so long? So long that it would lead him to death? But then again, when you think about, it does seem possible. Miroku had been the one person in our group who never really showed out on his face what he was thinking. His twinkling indigo eyes were always an enigma to all of us, and so were his lecherous ways. But now I realised that they were all just a façade- a screen to hide feelings more profound- deep sadness, fear, lingering regret, even… love?

Inu Yasha's voice brought me back to Earth. "So how do we get him back?"

Shippo shook his head sadly. "Once he's reached this stage, there's no saving him. Maybe, there might be a way, before Death completely claims him, but there are none that I have heard of."

There was heavy, grieving silence before Sango asked abruptly, "How long?"

We stared at her uncomprehendingly.

Sango tried again. "How long- before Miroku finally dies?"

Shippo shrugged. "Around 48 hours or so," he said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because- because that monster told me how to get him back."

Impossible hope glimmered from within the depths of despair. "How? What did it tell you?" I asked eagerly. Sango bit her lip and spoke.

"It- it told me that the only way to bring back Miroku was to find the Leaf of Holiness, which can be found in the middle of the Northern Forests."

I nearly burst out laughing. "You _got_ to be kidding," I cried. "Leaf of Holiness? What kind of crap is _that_!"

Sango looked at me coldly. "It's crap that can save Miroku's _life_." The chill tone of her voice startled me and I immediately gave up any impressions, however vague, that Sango was joking. "Okay," I said, automatically putting up my hands in defence. "We'll find it. But, Sango, aren't we searching in the _woods_, where, um, if you won't mind my observing, there are _millions_ of leaves?"

A ghost of a smile twitched Sango's lips. "It is a special leaf; we would know it, or rather, _feel _it as soon as we see it."

Shippo's ears twitched. "So you're saying we can trace it with our feelings?"

Sango nodded. "Something like that."

Inu Yasha put up his hands, his amber eyes uncharacteristically thoughtful. "Wait a second, everybody. We're talking about _Soul Eaters_ here. What if this is a trap?"

"You have any better ideas?" Sango snapped fiercely.

Inu Yasha, for probably the first time in his life (and that's something, considering that he's half-demon) looked chastised. He bowed his head. "No."

Sango nodded coldly and grabbed the Hiraikatsu, hefting it onto her back. "Seeing that's settled…"

She climbed onto a waiting Kirara.

"Northern woods, it is, then."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I would have preferred the mortifying silence.

The walk through the dense Northern forest was terrifying, to say the least. Especially with Inu Yasha as my only companion and weird growls and moans sounding from the darkest corners of the foliage… I regretted that I had agreed to split up our group when we had reached a fork. Sango, Shippo and Kirara had taken the path on the right, while Inu Yasha and I had taken the other. I didn't really want to split; didn't want to risk losing another friend, but I had to admit that splitting would make it infinitely easier to find the Leaf.

And yet…

I had this thick, choking feeling of foreboding that nearly turned my legs into jelly. At certain places, the low, animal growls would intensify into full-blown, blood-curdling shrieks of despair that would have my hair standing on end. The darkness too, grew thicker, with every turn in the narrow path. My stomach and my watch told me it was sometime in noon, but the darkness around me hinted at midnight in the pits of hell.

But still, I had Inu Yasha.

The hanyou had been rather quiet throughout the entire journey, but the sight of his strong person walking boldly in front of me, was reassuring, to say the least. And strangely… stimulating.

Suddenly, something dropped on the pathway ahead of me, and I screamed. It had only been a twig, but it still creeped me out. Immediately, Inu Yasha was by my side, holding me to one side with one arm, while the other reached for the Tetsusaiga. "Kagome!"

I found great comfort and… happiness (?) in his voice, at the obvious concern it held. When he had made sure that it was nothing, he turned to release me, when, I spoke out huskily.

"Don't leave me, Inu Yasha."

He froze, his amber eyes wide with surprise. I caressed his cheek and they softened. "Kagome…" he whispered.

At that beautiful moment, as we gazed into each other's eyes, I forgot everything: about Miroku, friends, school, home, the Sacred Jewel, Naraku, Kikiyo… _everything_, except how much I loved Inu Yasha.

A hungry desire erupted within me, sweeping into every pore of my being. Right then, everything I had ever wanted was Inu Yasha. Nothing else mattered. A thrill shot trough my spine as I saw the same feelings in his amber eyes.

Our lips met in a passionate kiss… our love will grow, shining like beacon to light up the universe…

_And all else will fade…_


	4. Courage needs no age

**_A/N:_** Thanks, all reviewers! Here's the 4th chapter, and I hope you continue to enjoy this story. More feedback would definitely be appreciated! ****

_**Shippo**_

Something was wrong.

It was just not mine and Kirara's demon senses telling that, either: the furrowing of Sango's brow, the drops of perspiration that flowed down like glaciers down the hill of her nose, spilling over the tip, to land on the soft pink lands of her lips; involuntary shudders that shook her otherwise steady hands and the movement of her eyes that darted everywhere were signals from the demon slayer, more eloquent than words, that something was wrong.

And, in a demon slayer's dictionary, _wrong_ meant _evil_.

I walked even closer to Sango- at least as close as I could get without banging into her legs- apprehensive. It wasn't just Sango's and Kirara's moods that scared me, however; it was the forest itself. It was so… so _dark_- a blemish of black nestled within the gold and green of the surrounding landscape. I could hear the growls of fearsome animals all around me, and I instinctively wished that Kagome were beside me. Of all the people in our group, I felt that she was the only one who really understood me the best.

Note that I say _best,_ not _completely_.

The incredulous look she gave me while I explained the legend of the Soul Eaters to her hurt me in a way that didn't even fully strike me immediately. But now, as I walked through the forest, the reassuring Tetsusaiga, and its slightly less-than-reassuring wielder on the other side of the jungle, fear and concern sloshing around in my insides, my brain got plenty of time to work on the conversation we had.

I've noticed, for quite some time now, that people generally consider me as the weakest of the group, being the youngest and most vulnerable. People's expectations of me are not very high, and, I was sorry to find out, nor is Kagome's, the person I thought who understood me. I've mulled and despaired over this for a very long time, wondering desperately how to overcome the shortcomings of childhood (in demonic terms at least), how to prove myself to others, how to _grow up_ faster. But the recent incident involving Miroku caused me to rethink everything, change my perspective about the world, about _myself_.

Maybe youth isn't so bad, after all.

I mean, if adulthood, or at least maturation, the growing of complexity of the mind, is what led to the tight spot that Miroku was now in, the consequence of Sango suffering, Kagome and Inu Yasha worrying… maybe it isn't as cool as I thought it was. And it's not just Miroku, you know. I've known for ages what Sango goes through about Kohaku and the massacre of her family; Inu Yasha about what he suffered in childhood, then the affair with the priestess Kikiyo, and the subsequent betrayal that destroyed their love and their lives- a cruel trick played by Naraku; Kagome about her strong feelings for Inu Yasha, marred by the fact that Inu Yasha still loved Kikiyo, and also the fact that Kikiyo came back from the dead to take her lover with her into the lands of the dead. All this leads into a huge tangle of hidden emotion that is simply a delicious feeding ground for a Soul Eater.

If that sort of situation was what adulthood was all about…

Well, three cheers for childhood!

My train of thought was abruptly derailed as Sango stopped in front of me, grabbing her Hiraikatsu, and I crashed into her legs. Kirara transformed into her true demon self, growling and hissing, her fur standing on end. Cold sweat trickled down my spine.

"Um, Sango?" I whispered tentatively. "What is it? Is it the Leaf?" We hadn't 'sensed' the Leaf at all since entering the forest, and I was beginning to wonder if it had all been a bunch of balderdash.

But I wasn't going to say that to Sango, of course.

The demon-slayer shook her head. "It's something else," she said quietly. "It feels like a- _demon!_" The end of her sentence was punctuated by a grunt as slimy, dangerous looking spikes shot from nowhere, at us. She put up the Hiraikatsu just in time, deflecting the spikes and sending them scattering.

Just at that moment, knife-like spikes shot from _everywhere_.

"Oh, shit!" Sango hissed. She gathered me into her arms, and jumped onto Kirara, who immediately took to the sky above the canopy, where we were in relative safety. Sango finally seated me in front of her.

"Wha- what was that!" I asked, still shaken.

Sango gazed out in front of her. "A demon," she said simply. Like I didn't know that.

I sighed. "How are we going to find the Leaf now?"

Sango's brow creased, and Kirara gave a low growl of sympathy for her mistress. "I don't know, Shippo," she said. "Maybe we should--" Suddenly, she broke off, her eyes glowing. "I got it!" she whispered in elation.

"Got what?" I asked a trifle cautiously.

"The Leaf!" she answered, in that same high-pitched whisper. "I can feel it!" She patted Kirara's head, pointing toward a clearing some distance ahead. "It's there; Kirara, girl, take us there!" The fire-cat complied, and the wind rushed back against our faces, Sango's ponytail flying back like a flag, as Kirara increased speed, heading like an arrow to the clearing her mistress had pointed out.

Soon we landed in the area, the lush grass seemingly glowing in the noon sun. A single, gnarled tree stood in the middle, like a wart against the beauty, and on the tree was a single, beautiful leaf.

I could sense immediately that there was something different, something _special_ about this Leaf from the time I set my eyes on it. It glowed with its own inner light, shining like a green, gold-laced lantern against the worn brown bark of the tree.

It _had_ to be the Leaf of Holiness.

Sango walked slowly toward it, mesmerised. Kirara turned back into her small form, mewing in wonder. However, before I could revel in my own awe, a sound came from behind us- the sound of something emerging from the dark foliage. I jumped while Sango turned around sharply. The foliage rippled more, as the… _something_ approached us. Finally, like a dolphin bursting through the surface of the ocean, two beings tumbled out of the thick vegetation. I relaxed as I realised who they were.

Inu Yasha and Kagome.

Sango smiled and helped Kagome up, while Inu Yasha bounded to his feet, shaking leaves and stray twigs out of his silvery hair. "Damn the forest!" he said, quickly brushing off more leaves and dirt off his person. Just then, I noticed something odd.

"Inu Yasha," I said slowly. He glanced at me. I decided to take the plunge. "What's that on your lips? Blood?"

Inu Yasha's clawed fingers immediately flew to his lips. "Blood!"

To my surprise Kagome came forward, blushing. "Oh, that's just my lipstick," she said, looking highly embarrassed. Eh?

Sango, however, gave an understanding smile and placed a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "I'm glad for you, Kagome," she said.

While I stood blinking in confusion, Inu Yasha blushed with enough ferocity to rival the colour of his dress and turned away. "Feh," was all he said.

Kagome cleared her throat to break the awkward silence. "Well, I'm glad we were all able to find our ways to the Leaf. Let's get this thing done with now, shall we?"

We nodded in agreement, though Inu Yasha's was mingled with profound relief. For _what_, I could not understand. Sango moved toward the tree, her hand reaching slowly to pluck the leaf. My fists clenched and unclenched, as did Kagome's and Inu Yasha's, for each of us wanted desperately to hold the Leaf in our hands- a Leaf so alluring, so magical, that it seemed to induce a whirlwind of desire within me… overwhelming…

_Hey, wait,_ some distant corner of my mind cried out. _Desire… emotion? _

"Sango!" I shouted, my own voice breaking the dream-like trance my mind was suspended in. "Don't touch it! It's a trap!"

She turned to look, no, _glare_ at me, an angry frown curving her lips. Her hand, however, moved resolutely toward the Leaf. I realised with saddening clarity that she had _already fallen_. Sango was known to be one of the best concealers of emotion, but the damned Soul Eater knew how to bring out anything out of anybody, how to hit on the right spots.

To save Miroku was more than enough reason for Sango to put her life on the line.

However, I was far from giving up. No Soul Eater was going to outsmart _our_ group!

I took a flying leap, and latched onto her outstretched hand, pulling it back, while Inu Yasha and Kagome watched, half-dazed that I would even be doing such a thing: spoiling the seemingly only chance Miroku had for survival.

"Shippo! Get off me!" Sango growled, shaking her arm vigorously to try to get me off her. "Are you mad!" Finally, she _did_ manage to get me off, and I was sent flying off to the side.

Her fingers closed around the Leaf.

And my worst fears were proved right.

The Leaf, which had formerly been glowing with a golden aura, now started pulsing black light, the darkness of which surrounded Sango's hand like a halo. Tendrils of darkness so black that they gleamed; that I could see my own reflection distorted on their glossy surfaces, snaked slowly down Sango's arm, while she, a bit too late, commenced a futile struggle to pull her arm back. Inu Yasha and Kagome rushed forward to help, but were stopped by the very Soul Eater we had faced a few hours ago.

If it wasn't the dark figure that chilled us, it was definitely the glittering, contemptuous smirk that traced itself on the black.

It laughed. Abruptly the smirk disappeared, and the darkness shimmered. "_Soul Eaters are often compared with demons, do you know that? I find that comparison the crudest form of human thinking… Demons have no flair, no **subtlety**… they wield their claws and swords, under the misconception that they are the strongest weapons on Earth, while… it is **not**_."

I wondered distantly why the thing was telling us this.

"_Emotions… the ability to play around with them… ah, that is the strongest, and most profitable weapon of all. The monk was an ideal breeding ground, and when I grew enough to sense the emotions of others… his friends… I knew that this was it- my **destiny**… to become the strongest Soul Eater of all, to lead my kind out of the uncertain existences they lead._"

"Cut your crap!" Inu Yasha cried, reaching for the Tetsusaiga. Way to go, Inu Yasha.

The Soul Eater raised a hand, and this time Inu Yasha froze, paralysed, unable to move. It regarded the half-demon with amused interest. "_You…_" it said. "_You were one of the ones that were the most fun to play with. Such strong temper, conflicting desires… love… that little romantic interlude in the forest was nothing but my doing, to get you so enraptured in each other… the result of the opening of emotions kept inside for too long… so that I could have you two too, eventually._" Again the high laugh.

That blessed shred of sanity that had wedged itself in the corner of my mind spoke up again. The talking… it was all a distraction… to accomplish…

_Sango!_

I ran toward the demon slayer again, whose torso had by now been engulfed in the dark tendrils. I caught onto her leg, pulling her with all my strength. "Inu Yasha! Kagome!" I shouted. "Snap out of it! It's just trying to distract you!"

My voice seemed to arouse Kagome, at least, for she blinked and shook her head, bringing her mind into focus. She looked at me and Sango, and grasped the situation immediately. She ran toward me, and, putting her arms around my waist, began to pull. I could sense Inu Yasha struggling to join us, but the strange power that the Soul Eater had over him didn't facilitate that. I pulled harder.

The tendrils grew faster.

The deadly tug-of-war could have continued for ages, had not the Soul Eater, in a sudden, surprising (an _understatement_!) move, waved his hand toward us, releasing the hold he had over Inu Yasha, and causing the tendrils to retract and the leaf to crumble into a pile of ashes. Sango, now free of the dark hold of the leaf, tumbled on to Kagome and me, thanks to our momentum.

The Soul Eater transformed into the dark cloud again. "_This is **not** over…_"

With that chilling warning, it was gone.

Inu Yasha rushed toward us as we got shakily to our feet. "You all right?"

Kagome nodded, helping Sango up. "Thanks to Shippo," she said, smiling. Sango, though ashen, most probably because there was no way to get Miroku back now, concurred with a nod and a deep breath. "Yeah. If it weren't for Shippo… God knows what might have happened."

I, predictably, blushed. Finally, it seemed, I had proved myself; what I was made of. "I see," Inu Yasha said slowly, leaning against the tree. "Anyway, didn't I warn you that this could be a trap? I _told_ you, but you didn't _listen_. If--"

"Shut up, Inu Yasha," Kagome said tiredly. But that didn't end Inu Yasha's rant.

"If only you had listened to me, you wouldn't have been in this kind of danger, and Shippo wouldn't be in the danger of getting a swelled head…" Hey! "… and you--"

Kagome drew in her breath, most likely to 'sit' Inu Yasha, but unfortunately, before she could do it, he stopped himself. His ears flattened themselves against his skull and he stood straight.

"Do you sense something, Inu Yasha?" Sango asked.

Inu Yasha nodded mutely, while Kagome's eyes flashed suddenly. "Don't tell me that- that _person_ is coming…" she muttered darkly. Sango and I exchanged confused looks.

Finally, our confusion was answered, for a white figure emerged out of the dark woods. Sango and I gasped as one.

It was Kikiyo.


	5. Traipsing in hell

_**Miroku**_

_Be strong._

The words, a maxim I'd been following my entire life, seemed so hollow now.

_Be brave._

Those words seemed to be the only thing that kept me standing, as Life wilted all around me. Magnificent trees with crowns of viridian were reduced to nothing more than skeletal, worn forms of what they once were. Waves of darkness swept the lush lands, like giant fingers ruffling the grass, replacing the dew-drenched green with rot. The sky roiled and rumbled with red-black clouds, obscuring the sun; obscuring any hope.

How symbolic.

Holding my staff as if it were my only life-line, and forcing myself to breathe in the polluted air, I took a few tentative steps, nearly dragging my sandal-clad feet along the ground. I wondered what sort of evil being could have done this. Was it Naraku? Had he finally managed to take possession of the last shards of the Sacred Jewel?

What about Inu Yasha and the others?

This was, strangely, the question that concerned me the most. I just didn't know what to _believe_. A part of my mind, a part I'm ashamed to say I let dominate for some time, whispered of betrayal; of jealousy. The rest of me, well, was just confused. I raised a cloth to my mouth, coughing.

For the first time in my life, I didn't know what to do, where to _go_.

I tripped over something then, and landed face-first on the rough ground. I didn't try to get up. Why should I, anyway? There was nothing left to get up for. I turned to lie on my back, staring up at the black-red sky, sighing. My eyelids drooped gently.

_Nothing to get up for…_

"You're wrong, Miroku."

_Huh? _My eyes snapped open. That voice… it sounded so familiar… but somehow, I felt it should be a little softer, a little brighter, just as I remembered it…

"There _is_ something to get up for."

My heart jolted as I realised who it was.

_Sango!_

I scrambled to get up to my feet, grabbing my staff to aid me in the process. I blinked in the fog. "Sango? Is that you?" I asked, my soul reverberating with impossible hope. Could it be that Sango survived whatever had happened? If she had, if she really was there, with her by my side, I could live through this. I could live through _anything_, for that matter. We could start over; begin a new life when this horror was over.

My thoughts easily outraced my pace as I trudged forward, the surroundings sapping my strength. One hand flailed around in the darkness like a blind man, while the other held my staff in a white-knuckled grip. "Sango! Show yourself!"

"I'm here, Miroku."

The voice sounded from behind me. How did she get there? I swirled around, and reached out… only to have my fingers close around the polluted air, nothing else. "Please, Sango," I pleaded. "No games! Where are you?"

The giggle that sounded after that echoed from my right, as if she had been standing next to me all along. But when I reached there, there was nothing. Suddenly, hot tears- tears of despair- stung my eyes. "Please Sango, don't do this to me," I said, my voice cracking slightly. "I want to see you; I want to--"

"Hold me?" She laughed again, this time sounding as if she were _above_ me, which was pretty much impossible. "You never change, do you, Miroku?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. Clouds of exhaustion were drawing themselves over my eyes, and obscuring all reasoning. I didn't know if this was all a trick, a trap- I didn't _care_. All I wanted to see was a friendly face, to have somebody to talk to, to lean on… I'd never realised, until now, the _true_ value of having a considerate friend by your side. I mean, being with Inu Yasha and the others had made me build up a surreal assurance within myself… I had taken everything for granted- my friends, our abilities, our luck… but now I realised, in the worst manner possible, that _nothing_ can be taken for granted.

The only permanence is death.

"Oh, Miroku…" Sango's voice wafted in the air, soft and chiding. "You understand, don't you? You were always like this… enigmatic, withholding… it seems even death hasn't changed you a bit."

I nearly tripped again. "_De-death?_" I gasped.

"Yes, Miroku," Sango's voice was filled with some sort of resigned sadness, a numb acceptance of fate. "Haven't you realised that yet? You're dead, and so am I."

"That can't be!" I sputtered. I was definitely alive- I was sure of that… or was I? Why would Sango speak like this? _Why…? _I raised a hand to my forehead, struggling to make sense of it all. I suddenly stopped short, my heart skipping a beat. My forehead… it felt so _cold_… in fact, I was drowning in it… a cold felt only by the dead…

"No," I whispered.

"_Yes_," Sango -- Sango's _voice _-- said. "This is the consequence of your life, Miroku, do you realise that? Everything you have done so far, everything that's been done to _you_, all that you have experienced… they are just the different paths that lead to the same destination- _this_ _hell_."

What…? It couldn't be true… why was Sango trying to hurt me? She would never do it; unless…

"You fiend!" I cried. "You're not Sango! What have you done with her?"

The voice sounded again, this time sounding a bit amused. "Took you some time to figure it out, didn't it? And no, I've not done anything to your precious Sango…_ yet_. And when I do it, you won't be able to do anything about it, for you'll be trapped forever in this hell- your own personal hell; your worst nightmares come true." A high cackle ripped through the foggy air. "Nobody can save you, not even your oh-so-great friends."

_Friends…_ "You… whoever you are… you're wrong about that! They'll find a way… somehow. You'll meet the end you deserve, you scum!" I screamed, unable to control myself. But in a way, my confident assurance outside masked the despair that seethed within me. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I, deep within, was far from confident that Inu Yasha and the others would find me. The… _thing_… that had masqueraded as Sango had really broken me down- I was not sure of anything, anymore, not even myself.

"You think I believe your bluster?" The voice asked. "Surely, monk, you estimate me better than that? You'd better, for I'm beyond the highest estimation a mortal can place on _anything_. You mask pathetic uncertainty, you weak mortal. But that is only to be expected, of course."

"What do you mean?" I asked tiredly. I had a feeling I was going to ask that a lot if the evil was going to continue speaking to me.

"Look at your life- what have you achieved? Every moment of your pitiful life was spent in anxiety, and an endless scramble to a light you could never reach. You stole; you broke many hearts and you sapped countless demons' lives. And yet, you exorcised demons to save countless humans. A life that swung between two extremes; a life of _uncertainty_."

The words fell like boulders on my soul.

"Everything has a consequence, Miroku. For you, it was the black hole or this. Frankly, you don't deserve the black hole, you know- it is painless, and a heroic death. No, you deserved less, for I'm a firm believer that each person's death should be a reflection of their life. Don't you agree with me, now? Or are you too _uncertain_ about your acquiescence?"

I clutched at my hair, my head pounding. "Stop!" The laugh that answered my plea rang through the air, chilling and frightening. Its fading echoes left me falling to my knees, unable to bear what I was going through. The monster… whatever it was… was surely trying to break me, though I couldn't perceive, _yet_, what for. But I wasn't going to let it win.

Or was I?

I cringed at my own questions, my internal doubts. Was what the evil had been saying true all along? Was my life truly a big question mark? Of course, it was, if you looked at it head-on. The black hole in my hand threatened to make everyday I lived my last. I could die any time- fear of which I had always covered up. That… that was beyond my control. The infliction of the curse upon my family was not my fault. But if you looked at the smaller details…

Like Sango, for instance. I'd always known I loved her, and yet, I was too caught up with myself and my problems, painful memories- fresh and old, that my deep feelings for her had themselves become an uncertainty. And my friendship with Kagome, Inu Yasha and the others… how many times had I, despairing over my black hole, willingly put my life on the line during fights when it was not needed, or thought about leaving them so that they need not suffer the consequence of my black hole? I was born a loner, and therefore was destined to die a loner. I had thought I was making the ultimate sacrifice for my friends, being so unselfish, but now I realise that that had not been the case.

_How_ could I have underestimated their friendship so badly?

_How_ could I have revelled in self-pity so much; been so selfish?

How…?

I shuddered and sat down on the ground, folding my legs underneath me. I wanted desperately to get out this hell-hole, so that, somehow, I could make up for all the wrongs I'd done my entire life. Inu Yasha and the others- yes, _Inu Yasha_- had always sincerely cared about me, and were truly sympathetic about my fate. They were as determined as me to prevent it from happening. Even more, perhaps. I only wished that I had been that confident, as well.

Regret, coupled with exhaustion, burst out from somewhere deep within my soul, and travelled through my veins to reach a crescendo within my brain. I lay back on the ground, using every ounce of my remaining energy just to keep my eyes open. My staff slipped from my numb fingers and rolled away into the darkness. I had neither the strength, nor the inclination to go after it, for, well, it didn't matter anymore. Nothing did. I had realised the error of my ways too late, and now, here was the consequence, and I must suffer it. My eyes closed.

A drop of moisture suddenly fell on my face. I frowned slightly.

Then another, and another.

_Is it raining…?_ My eyes fluttered open. Drops of water were steadily drizzling from the black-red sky. A drop fell on my lips, and I tasted it. Immediately I flinched. I recognised the coppery taste only too well.

It was not raining water; it was raining _blood_.

_What is going on?_ I thought groggily, trying to make sense of it all. I stopped myself in time. There was no logic in hell; in death. Be it blood, or nectar, it didn't matter. Nothing did.

As I peered closer at the drops of blood falling from the sky, it was as if I could see Sango's face on each one of them. And not just her face, either. Kagome, Inu Yasha, Kirara and Shippo each smiled at me from those drops of blood. The images immediately shattered as the drops fell on the ground.

Somehow, I felt it was symbolic of my friendship. It had been so delicate, so precious, just like that drop of blood. I, having not realised that, allowed it to fall; to shatter to a million pieces. Never again will I get it back.

I closed my eyes again, for what I hoped would be the last time. I heard the evil voice again, before I slipped into darkness, but I did not pay any heed.

"_I have broken him successfully… Now it is time to play with his friends…_"

What I heard, I didn't understand. I didn't _care_ to understand, because it didn't matter.

Nothing did.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**_A/N:_** There you go! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, somehow. Please let me know what you think of it::glances at review page and goes wide-eyed: Wow! Thanks so much for such lovely reviews! I hope you continue to enjoy this story!


	6. Of choices, suffering and Love

**_Inu Yasha_**

If one could ever describe the epitome of surprise, this moment would be it.

Time itself seemed to have stopped as Kikiyo emerged from the woods, her pale, beautiful face shining with an inner glow of its own… shiny black hair that cascaded like a waterfall down her shoulders… the lovely pink lips, which I have tasted so often, curved slightly in the ghost of an amused smile… enigmatic, sparkling brown eyes, eyes whose beauty that even death had not taken away; eyes that looked so much like…

Kagome's.

I blinked and took a step back, snapping myself out of my mesmerised state. I glanced at my side just in time to see Kagome force a smile upon her face. "Kikiyo," she said. "What are you doing here?"

Kikiyo turned fractionally to bestow upon Kagome a gaze that could be approximated to disdain. "I move anywhere, of my own free will. It is neither your right nor your position to ask me of my purpose for all my doings, little girl."

Kagome looked as if she were about to retaliate, when I stepped forward. "Kikiyo," I said thickly. "Why- why have you come?" Didn't she understand how… difficult this was for me? I loved Kagome but I did not want to give up on Kikiyo… for that old charm still existed, simmering within me, reminding me painfully of how things could have been, if Naraku hadn't played that cruel trick on us- used us against each other. It was a difficult decision, yet one that everybody feels I must take… Why must everything be one or the other? Why wasn't there any balance out there in the world?

_Why_, dammit!

"Inu Yasha…" she said softly, as if noticing me for the first time. "I knew that there must have been a reason for me being led here."

"Led?" Sango said. "What do you mean?"

"I had sensed an unknown force here; I followed its call, only to find Inu Yasha…" Kikiyo's voice was distant, heavy. "There must be a purpose for me being called here; only I cannot fathom _what_…"

The sound of her husky, soft voice saddened me somewhat. Within every tremor that voice held, was deep loneliness. A resigned, melancholy note quivered in every syllable, at the cruel quirks of fate. I wished I could comfort her, provide her the love and company she yearned for so much. And yet, damn it, I couldn't! I didn't know how to deal with this sort of situation either- smooth talking and reasoning was not my forte- I was one who always followed my instincts, my gut feelings; I was no Miroku.

The only problem now, was my gut seemed to have taken two sides!

What does one do _then_?

I felt that, in many ways, Kikiyo and Kagome were one and the same. Not just in their looks, but the way they had come into my life, how they had affected it, _changed_ it… Before Kikiyo arrived into my life, I was a ruthless young half-demon of mercurial temperament, sick of being ridiculed because of my half-breed nature, singularly obsessed with obtaining the Sacred Jewel and becoming a full-demon, to 'pay back' those darn idiots sniggering behind my back, whatever that meant. Kikiyo had taught me that having people think of you as terrifying and great was not going to make you feel great within yourself- you will never achieve self-satisfaction. She had taught me how to love… and yes, how I had loved her! I was willing to sacrifice my dreams, willing to use the Jewel to become human, just so that I could be with her. The very day those happy visions of a lovely life with Kikiyo were to be fulfilled, they were shattered- by Naraku's tricking us into killing each other. How painful it had been to see Kikiyo raising her bow and arrow to kill me, the tender love on her face replaced by pure hatred!

And yet… she didn't kill me. Her arrow and magic seal made me hibernate for fifty years… _fifty years_, dang it! ...until Kagome came and woke me up. Then, I had no idea about Naraku; I was heart-broken by Kikiyo's seeming betrayal, and to see Kagome, who looked so much like Kikiyo, only aggravated it further. My old instincts- to get hold of the Sacred Jewel and become a full demon took hold of me again. She brought me out of that, bit by bit, with unfailing faith and friendship, and perhaps… something more. Yes, she _loved _me. It was time I paid her back for her love and support. But still…

Kikiyo and Kagome were like two bright stars, both brightening the dark sky that was my life. How could I choose between them? Why did everything have to be so difficult? I wasn't going to flatter myself- I knew I didn't deserve either Kikiyo or Kagome, yet they both loved me, and I- I loved _them_, and, and life just got much, much more complicated.

"You sensed the Soul Eater, right?" Shippo's excited voice broke my reverie. "Do you know any way to, you know, defeat it?"

Kikiyo raised her eyebrows. "No, I do not know," she said quietly. "It was not a Soul Eater I sensed either."

Shippo's brow creased. "What? How can that be?"

"I may be Undead, but I am not all-knowing." A Soul-stealer drifted next to her, feeding yet another soul to sustain her body. "I merely sensed some sort of forceful aura over here- an aura so vague that I could not even determine its nature."

She levelled her gaze suddenly at Kagome, who involuntarily flinched. "It _called_ to me, so I came."

Called to her…? Why would a Soul Eater be doing that? My concerned eyes met that of Sango, Kagome and Shippo's, and the unspoken question crackled like the tips of orange flames in the air. Was it just yet another trick of the Soul Eater? Had it just drawn Kikiyo over here to increase the emotional tension?

"_This is **not** over…"_

I shuddered. Whether this had been the Soul Eater's plan or not, it was working pretty well.

"Anyway," Kagome started tentatively. "It _was_ a Soul Eater, all right, and it's got our friend." She laced her fingers behind her back, visibly nervous. I suddenly felt guilty. It was because of _me_ that Kagome felt this way- nervous, angry, despairing… and after all that she's done for me as well… "Do you know any way to bring him back?" she finished.

Kikiyo's gaze never wavered. "I do- but what happens to you or your friends, excepting Inu Yasha, is none of my concern. Besides, I suspect that it is already too late for your friend… the monk, is it not?"

Sango's eyes flared. "How _dare_ you say that?" she sputtered, unable to control herself. "It is _not_ too late for Miroku. Besides, he is Inu Yasha's friend; don't you care about Inu Yasha, about what Inu Yasha wants, like you _claim_ to do?"

Kikiyo's eyes finally showed a spark of emotion. "It is not your place to talk about love, or wants, _demon-slayer_," she said. "For it is partly because you ignored that of the monk's, he is in such a predicament now. You do not have, nor do you _deserve_ the authority to question my intentions with Inu Yasha!"

Sango blanched, taking a step backward, hurt in her eyes. Kagome squeezed Sango's hand comfortingly and cast a side-long glare at Kikiyo. I felt then, a helplessness that I never thought I would be capable of feeling. What could I say to appease Kagome? What could I say to make Kikiyo see reason?

"Listen, Kikiyo," I said almost tiredly. "I value Miroku as a close friend and…" I shrugged, unable to find suitable words. "I mean, there is no harm in showing us the way, is there?"

Her eyes shifted to my face, an indescribable emotion brimming within them. She stepped closer to me. "I want to ask you something, Inu Yasha," she said, her voice softer than ever.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Do you love me?"

I blinked, not knowing what to say. "I- I care about you, Kikiyo, I respect you, and—"

"Ssh." She placed a finger on my lips, silencing me. "What I asked was, do you _love_ me, truly, like you have so often professed in the past? Or do you prefer that impertinent young girl?"

"I- I- uh… you see, Kikiyo, I--" I stammered, despairing at the conundrum that had shown itself plainly before me. What a time for this to happen! I suddenly found myself cursing everything, the world itself, for landing me in this situation. The endless list of 'only If's' flashed in my mind, torturing my soul with useless regret and wistfulness. Only if Onigumo had died before falling in love with Kikiyo, so that Naraku would never have been formed; only if the Sacred Jewel had never even existed; only if Kikyo and I had never been separated in the first place; only if that evil witch Ursuae hadn't resurrected Kikiyo, if only Kikiyo hadn't suddenly been possessed of a fanatical desire to take me, her lover, with her into the lands of the dead…

"He doesn't need to answer that!" Kagome's angry voice startled me out of my regret-induced mental meanderings. "He's already proved his love to you so many times; why don't you do the same and leave him alone for once, huh? Inu Yasha needs to live, and in peace!"

I sucked in my breath. _Kagome…?_ She just said that? But I had thought, no, _wished_ that…

Kikiyo swirled around sharply, narrowing her eyes. They shifted from Kagome's face to mine, and back to Kagome again. Finally, she took a deep breath and reached for her bow and arrow. "I see the problem, now, and the solution." She set an arrow into her bow and pointed it at Kagome.

"Kikiyo?" I cried out, my voice infused with panic.

The wooden bow creaked as she pulled the string taut. Kagome stood paralysed, too surprised to move. Sango and Shippo, both standing a little behind her, were in pretty much the same state.

"Kikiyo!" I lunged, ready to bat her arm away.

I missed.

The arrow shot out of the bow, green aura surrounding its head. It struck Kagome in the heart, driving deep. She let out a strangled cry and collapsed.

"_Kagome!_" I yelled, sprinting toward her fallen form, unable to believe it. Sango and Shippo bent over her as well, eyes wide with surprise and grief. I roughly pushed them away, skidding to a sitting position in the ground, cradling Kagome's head in my lap.

She was- was so _still_…

"Kagome, please," I whispered. "Don't die on me, _please_… Kagome…" A single tear traced a tentative path down my cheek before it finally spilled onto Kagome's. I hugged her to my chest, rocking her back and forth, wallowing in grief. She was dead… _dead_. But, somehow, deep within, it all seemed so surreal, so unbelievable… or maybe I didn't _want_ to believe it _myself_…

Somebody placed a hand on my shoulder. Sango's voice sounded. "Inu Yasha, please, leave her; put her down." Her voice held no grief, but an undercurrent of excitement. And I thought she was Kagome's _friend_! "No," I whispered harshly.

Sango's grip tightened on my shoulder. "You don't seem to understand, Inu Yasha. Kagome is _not dead_!"

_Huh?_ I pushed back Kagome and put her back on the ground gently. _Not dead…?_ The place where the arrow had struck her- it was not bleeding, but glowing with a strange blue light. And Kagome was breathing- faintly, but breathing.

I looked over at Kikiyo, not knowing what to believe. She smiled at me and raised a hand to her heart, which was glowing with same blue as Kagome's. "I see, now, Inu Yasha," she whispered. "And I understand. Goodbye." Suddenly a great wind blew, and both Kagome and Kikiyo were gently lifted into the air, the halos of blue light expanding to surround them, thickening and brightening to the point where we couldn't even see their silhouettes anymore.

Then, suddenly, Kikiyo's light reduced to a size no larger than my fist, circling around the bigger one that was Kagome's. They threw shadows over our uncomprehending faces as we stared, minds blasted completely blank by the rapidity of surprising events that had happened.

Then Kikiyo's light _entered_ Kagome's, the fusion producing such wind and intense light, that I had to throw myself on the ground, and drag Sango and Shippo along with me, to protect our senses. Finally, as the wind ceased, as did the heat of the light of the fusion, we stood up and turned.

Kagome was standing alone in the middle of the clearing, her eyes closed. I ran toward her, Sango, Kirara and Shippo on my heels. "Kagome?" I said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes, and for a moment I was taken aback. Those brown eyes were no longer the wide, mischievous, innocent (?) eyes I'd grown to love. They were filled with an added charisma, an age-old wisdom that added depth to her beauty…

Suddenly I knew what had just happened.

"Kikiyo's soul fused with yours, didn't it?" I asked, my voice filled with awe. She smiled a slow smile, a smile that was achingly reminiscent of Kikiyo, and nodded. "Don't worry though, Inu Yasha," she said. "I'm still mostly Kagome Higurashi."

Even her voice had changed- it was more deep, husky. I thought briefly of what Kikiyo had said, before she shot the arrow: _"I see the problem, now, and the solution…"_ So Kikiyo _had _understood me, after all. She had seen reason, and the best-suited solution. I hugged Kagome, then, a happy smile curving my lips. "I love you, Kagome," I said simply.

She smiled into my chest. "Me too, Inu Yasha," she answered back.

We pulled back then, staring into each other's eyes. There was nothing that could be paralleled to that beautiful, simple, love-filled moment.

Her eyes suddenly flitted to the side, and widened in horror. "Inu Yasha!" she yelled. Her yell was punctuated by more warning shouts from Sango and Shippo and a growl from Kirara.

I smelt the oncoming demon too late.

Sharp claws tore my spine neatly in half, sending me into white-hot, mind-blowing pain. My grip on Kagome loosened, and I slid to the ground, my blood starting to pool beneath me.

Darkness seeped in like a tidal wave into my blurred vision. The coppery stench of my own blood filled my nostrils as the last smell I would ever smell, intermingled with the sweet scent of Kagome's hair.

This was it. I was going to die. All I could feel was regret- that I hadn't lived long enough to lead my friends to their destinies, to experience Kagome's love, to purge the world of Naraku's evil… My mind finally immersed in the darkness. The last thing I heard was Kagome's high-pitched scream.

"_Sesshoumaru_!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**_A/N_**: Thanks again, to everybody who have reviewed! This chapter was kind of difficult, so it took a little longer than the others. As usual, please let me know what you think of it!


	7. Conundrum

**_A/N:_** Thanks to all reviewers! Sesshoumaru was particularly difficult to write; it was only recently that he co-operated enough for me to finish this chapter. Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!

Also, I would like to make use of this opportunity to thank all those who've reviewed Unrequited 2: Sacrifices. I'm glad you liked it!

_**Sesshoumaru**_

"The fool."

The words that escaped my mouth were not of my accord, but bearing more semblance to the provocation of an unknown, external entity. There was nothing in the greenery around me that suggested the use of those words, though a distant scent on the wind seemed faintly familiar…

"Lord Sesshoumaru? Why have we stopped? I say, Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord--"

I sighed inwardly at the reedy voice reiterating the increasing annoying phrase. I had understood Jaken perfectly the first time- his waste of voice and words when aware of that fact- an act that reeked of inefficiency- irritated me.

I despised inefficiency.

A single finger of mine twitched almost imperceptibly, my mind rigorously contemplating the idea of handing Jaken a well-deserved punishment. However, before I could reach a conclusion, the scent in the air, which had provoked such an unexpected reaction from me, grew strong enough to be familiar.

Inu Yasha.

"The fool," I said, more forcefully this time. My sharp eyes caught the sight of an aurora of light suddenly coming to life in the distance, exactly where I could trace the foul stench of my half-brother and his human friends. I unsheathed Tokijin in one fluid movement, bracing myself, tuning my senses. I could hear the shifting of the soil as Jaken shuffled nervously behind me and the soft breathing as Rin slept on Ahn. I focused on Inu Yasha's scent, locating him in my mind. I needed to know what he was up to this time, what more he could've caused wrong.

Suddenly, the rancid odour of blood mingled with Inu Yasha's scent drove me into action. I leapt into the foliage, my sprint becoming an inhumanly fast-paced dance as I dodged, or destroyed the trees in my way to where I could smell Inu Yasha.

Soon, I was there- a wide clearing thick with the smell of blood, and grief. I saw my unworthy half-brother sprawled on the ground, his back torn open, blood gushing out like a gory fountain. A demon stood over him, dripping claws still extended, a twisted grin on his face. The human girl stood paralysed, eyes flitting in every direction- an extension of the feeling her trapped, pathetic mind was suffering, no doubt- before she finally caught sight of me, screamed, and fainted.

Weak creature.

My eyes appraised Inu Yasha again, feeling a distinct sense of disappointment, nothing more. Then they shifted to the cause of my brother's demise leering at me, apparently feeling a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence which it did not deserve. Inu Yasha's foolhardy antics were going to get him killed one way or the other- his downfall had been imminent and inevitable right from the time of his birth.

Suddenly my ears caught the fluid stretching of strong muscles- the demon had apparently got too confident. Tokijin flashed once- then twice- and soon the demon lay on the ground in two parts, the muscles in his legs still bunched together in preparation to leap.

"Sess- Sesshoumaru."

I didn't need to turn to see who it was- the demon slayer. And I didn't bother. Sliding my sword back into the sheath, my eyes once more roamed quietly over the two corpses on the ground, once again feeling vague disappointment. This was the half-demon's destiny- to end a miserable life with a miserable death- but I had expected more from him. Expected him to show that he did descend from my father, even if partly. But now, he would forever remain a blemish in our great name.

I turned to leave.

A sudden, strong pulsing by my side drew my attention. The Tensaiga demanded to be unsheathed at once, its pulsing reverberating throughout my soul. Curious, I took it out. _Inu Yasha._

This possibility hadn't occurred to me before, admittedly, but I did not regret that. Inu Yasha's existence does not affect me in anyway, but the Tensaiga demanded that I restore him at once. Interesting.

I stood over my half-brother's corpse, the Tensaiga held high, shifting my soul's eyes to that of the sword's, viewing the body from a spiritual angle. The messengers of the dead were already there, the normally-invisible, tiny goblin-like creatures scampering over his face, chuckling merrily as they prepared to take away Inu Yasha forever into the lands of the dead.

In a swift, sweeping motion, I brought the sword down over Inu Yasha, obliterating the messengers, banishing them back to their netherworld. At that precise moment, Inu Yasha took in a gasping breath as life trickled back into his body. The fatal wound on his back slowly closed back together, the blood seeping back in, and the bones snapping back into place, like time itself was reversing. The eyes fluttered open, the dim golden orbs brightening with renewed life.

He frowned. "Sesshoumaru? What are _you_ doing here?" he said, his voice barely a whisper.

The question did not call for an useful answer, so I remained quiet and sheathed the Tensaiga while Inu Yasha got up to his feet, finally noticing the unconscious human girl. "Kagome?" he cried out, his voice infinitely stronger and more panicked. "Kagome!" He turned fiercely to face me. "What did you do to her?"

"He did not do anything." A quiet voice- that of the demon-slayer- echoed throughout the clearing. Inu Yasha turned slowly to face her, disbelieving. "He saved you," the demon-slayer continued, in that detachment that always occurred when the happening events were too much to bear for a human. "Sesshoumaru saved your life."

Inu Yasha's mouth closed and opened like that of a goldfish; I felt disgusted. Had he spent so much time around humans that even their traits had etched their vile selves onto his soul? To flounder in disbelief when the facts are presented clearly before you was a fatal flaw for any demon- be it a frog, or a dog youkai.

"Inu- Inu Yasha…" The waking voice of the girl snapped him out of his reverie; immediately he was by her side, helping her, asking of her well-being, _touching _her… the sense of revulsion reached a crescendo, and I found myself searching for the reason I saved him.

It was no secret that I did not take affectionately to my hanyou brother. In many ways, he did not deserve to be part of my father's great line, nor did he deserve the honour of wielding the Tetsusaiga. His half-demon nature, impulsiveness, density and tendency to take after humans made him vulnerable, to the point of utter … _humanness_.

And yet, even I could not deny that he had progressed by a considerably large amount in recent times, even with the fallibility of humans surrounding him and seemingly helping him.

Maybe there was more to Inu Yasha than I had initially assumed.

The girl leaned tiredly against Inu Yasha's chest, still weak, while he stroked her dark hair, whispering soothing words. A flicker of amusement now replaced the revulsion within me. He had always claimed to love the priestess Kikyo… now he loved this human girl… if he really were that fickle… Wait. Why did the girl smell partly of Kikyo?

I did not have time to ponder the question, for suddenly I felt an evil rise up like mist all around the clearing. The fox-demon squealed and the cat growled. The demon-slayer tensed, while the girl and Inu Yasha pulled away from each other, the latter's ears perked to full extent, fingers resting on the handle of the Tetsusaiga.

In an instant, with the grace of a falling tree, the surrounding woods erupted into life- unimaginably hideous monsters springing out of dormancy- woken up, no doubt, by Inu Yasha and his _friends_' antics. The air was soon thick with the flash of claws, the reek of demon breath and their growls. Inu Yasha and I brought up the Tetsusaiga and the Tokijin, rivalling brothers united for a common cause.

The battle ensued.

Tetsusaiga and Tokijin flashed in tandem, their strokes trailing with demon blood. The demon slayer's boomerang weapon often cut through the chaos with blood-soaked precision, and many of the vile creatures disappeared beneath illusory fox magic, arrows and fire-cat claws. But that did not seem to be enough.

The stream of demons seemed never-ending.

I knew it was too dangerous to do any fancy gallivanting with the swords like the Windscar and such; there was not enough space. There had to be another way to get rid of the infidels…

The foul breath of another demon behind me drew me out of my pondering. With a quick twist, up and about, my claws tore it to shreds. Only to have a dozen more come out of the woods. This sort of battling was futile; it did not lead anyone anywhere- a useless, and _inefficient_ exertion of energy.

My eyes narrowed.

With a strong and graceful leap, I perched onto a particularly large-branched tree, observing the battle. The secret to winning a battle, I remembered my father saying, was not strength alone, but a _planned strategy_. It had not been an easy road for him to becoming the Lord of the Western Lands- many others, _stronger_ than he had rivalled my father. It pays to know your enemy well, for however strong he may be, there would always be a weak spot- normally the source of his energy. Strategically exploiting that particular weakness had been what had lead to my father's success over his stronger rivals.

_The source…_

It made sense. Feed poison to the heart of the creature and all of it dies. Not all of the demons here could have woken up at once; it went against the laws of nature. No, there was _something else_, possibly controlling them- the source. And the source was never too far away from the battle…

"I have to use it!" Inu Yasha's voice once more broke into my thoughts. I glanced to the battle scene to see him pressed by the ever increasing demons against the tree, his sword held high. "I have to use the Windscar!" he yelled desperately, still using the Tetsusaiga to bat away the demons. "There's no other way!"

The fool. That was something he should not be doing, in this situation. The girl seemed to understand that as well, for she shouted back, "Not the Windscar, Inu Yasha! There's not enough space! You could end up killing us all!"

"I won't," Inu Yasha insisted, holding the sword in a vertical stance in front of him, back still pressed against the tree. "There's no other choice."

_The tree…_ A tingle ran through my spine. The tree was undoubtedly strange, pulsing black light, its gnarled branches almost _alive_, swaying in the non-existent wind. That was it! The tree- it was the source; within its rotten centre was nestled a mind- so evil that it was almost tangible.

A tiny ghost of a smile gracing my lips, I held the Tokijin ahead of me. Soon, I was in the air, leaping with deadly precision toward the tree. Inu Yasha caught sight of me and his eyes widened, while he unconsciously moved away from my leap's destination. The idiot obviously thought I was leaping to kill him.

When only inches away from the tree, I brought down the Tokijin in a downward, slashing motion, reducing the tree to splinters. An ethereal, horrifying scream sounded from within, a whine building up into the tortured screams of a thousand prisoners- the death throes of the tree. Then, as abruptly as it had started, it ended, the silence more ringing than the scream. As if on cue, the surrounding demons froze in mid-fight, disintegrating into ashes, blown away for ever by the wind- their remains scattered in a million directions as a sign of their miserable dishonourable death.

Inu Yasha and his companions froze as well, blinking, staring at me as if they had never seen me before. "The tree was the source of the evil," I said simply, turning to leave. Jaken couldn't be trusted to be alone and quiet for long.

"It must have been a part of the Soul Eater…" the demon slayer mused.

"Wait, Sesshoumaru!" Inu Yasha called suddenly. I turned, inwardly impatient.

"Why did you save me?" he asked, with genuine curiosity. I almost smiled then. Had the animosity between us reached the level where he couldn't believe that his brother had saved his life? It was not something I regretted, of course, but it did surprise me.

"There was no reason to provoke me into doing otherwise," I said simply.

Inu Yasha's amber eyes widened even more. Then, unexpectedly, he smiled- an expression alien to my brother when he was around me. "Thanks… brother."

I nodded coldly, hiding my surprise at his use of the word 'brother.' "Hopefully that would induce you into using your mental abilities for once." Then, as an afterthought, I added, "Brother."

With that, I was gone, weaving my way quickly through the dense forest, following the scent of Jaken and Rin to the place where they had stopped, all the time berating myself for giving away even a sliver of emotion. For any demon, emotion equalled vulnerability- one of Inu Yasha's greatest flaws.

And, perhaps, his greatest strength.

Rin's delighted call greeted me as soon as I landed smoothly in the clearing where they were waiting. "Lord Sesshoumaru!" Jaken called too, though with less enthusiasm. "Has your business concluded?"

"Yes," I said shortly. I looked to the distance, contemplating on the conundrum of the usefulness of one's emotions- a weakness and a strength; a vulnerability and a shield; a shortcoming and a key to disaster.

"Yes…" I continued. "Concluded very well, indeed."


	8. Hope

_**Kagome**_

_**Strange are the quirks of fate.**_

"Huh?" I blinked slowly, the image of Inu Yasha standing in front of me staring in wonder at the foliage where Sesshoumaru just left, flashing in and out of my vision. _What was that voice?_

_**Strange…**_

"Kagome?" Sango's voice, followed by the crunch of leaves and demon bones as she approached me sounded. I turned to her, noticing her distant, awed gaze, understanding it perfectly. I myself had some doubt if it was really Sesshoumaru I had seen just then, if the same seemingly emotionless cold demon had just saved all of our lives.

His _brother's _life.

_**You are too prejudiced, young girl… Fate works in its own ways. We cannot tell when friends will become enemies, or enemies friends, nor can we strive to deduce the correct nature of anybody around us. Not even Sesshoumaru…**_

_Huh?_ That voice again! "Who are you?" I shouted. Sango and the others, snapped out of their surprised dazes, gave me quizzical glances. "What voice, Kagome?" Inu Yasha asked, tilting his head in puzzlement. "I didn't hear anything." Sango and Shippo nodded their heads to concur with him.

My brow creased. "But…" I did hear the voice! Loud and clear… as if from inside from my head…

_**Wisdom seems to be lacking in you, as well. I am Kikyo, you fool…**_

"Kikyo," I whispered, my eyes widening. Of course. She was now a part of me, but still it scared me to no end to have her speaking to me, from _inside _me.

"Kikyo?" Inu Yasha's eyes started flashing again, this time with genuine concern and confusion. "Hasn't she gone yet?"

"Technically, Inu Yasha," Sango began, "She still remains within Kagome's body." She turned to me. "Is that the 'voice' you just heard, Kagome?" I nodded dumbly at her deduction. It felt strange, somehow. Miroku would've been the first person to figure that out; I missed- yes, _missed_- the smug, soft voice he used when he voiced out his opinions.

"Oh," Inu Yasha said, wedging the Tetsusaiga into the soil and leaning against it, obviously lost for a better reaction.

A bitter, long silence.

Finally, Shippo piped up, "It isn't very useful to just stand around here, doing nothing, you know. Sesshoumaru's come and gone; so have those demons… we should continue our search for Miroku." Inu Yasha pulled his sword out. "Yeah," he agreed, taking a few wide steps in the general direction of the forest, before suddenly stopping short. "But search where, though?"

_Where…_

That was the million dollar question, wasn't it? Our bank of options seemed to have run out; there was no way we could find Miroku now- we may have won the battles, but the Soul Eater had indeed won the war.

Miroku was gone.

The inevitable, unavoidable truth crashed like a stack of bricks upon my head, sending me staggering. Somehow, even though fear and anger had ruled my emotions then, I had still felt something resembling _hope_ when I had seen Sesshoumaru. On those extremely rare occasions I had seen the brothers working together, they had done wonders, simply wonders. But he was gone. And we were no closer to finding Miroku than before.

In fact, we were back in Square One.

I heard more crunching of demon bones behind me as Sango went to her knees, head bowed in sorrow, her hair, which had come out of her ponytail during the battle, obscuring her face. "We could have saved him…" she whispered.

Then she looked up with tear-stained eyes, at no one in particular, the flame of anger dancing in them. "_I _could have saved him," she corrected herself fiercely. "Now there is no way… and he is going to die for sure…" Her voice broke at that point, and she bent her head again, unable to continue.

"It is _not_ your fault, Sango," I said determinedly, while Inu Yasha and Shippo shifted uncomfortably. "There was no way anybody of us could've known this was going to happen."

_**But you could've avoided it…**_

"How could we?" I asked her, genuinely curious.

_**All of you knew what was happening to each other, am I right? How all of you were crumbling from within; how your egos constructed an emotional barrier around you, making you strong on the surface while you wilted away in the inside…**_

"We had no idea about Soul Eaters!" I said loudly. "Besides it's just human to…"

**_If I am right,_** Kikyo interrupted, **_some of your group members did know about Soul Eaters. It is not human to knowingly flirt with danger, just to keep your emotions in check._**

"Just shut up!" I snapped fiercely. "You're not being helpful at all!" This drew curious gazes from the others. "Were you just talking to Kikyo?" Shippo asked innocently.

I nodded, or at least started to, before Sango grabbed my shoulders in a sudden, white-knuckled grip, a near-maniacal gleam in her brown eyes. "Kikyo!" she said, too excited to speak coherently. "Kikyo… key!"

"What do you mean?" I asked carefully.

She seemed to gain a little more control then, and released my shoulders, the adrenaline still making her twist her fingers together. "Kikyo might know a way to- to bring M-Miroku back!" she said. "I do remember her mentioning earlier that she knew the way…" She turned sharply to face me, hope for getting her long-elusive love back shining from her very being.

"Alright," I said, catching her meaning. I closed my eyes, reaching within myself, searching for Kikyo's presence and imploring her to answer my call.

Nothing.

"Come on, Kikyo!" I said desperately. "You know how to bring him back, right?"

_**I might…**_

Then some more silence.

I grew fed up. Oh, geez, here I was, taking flak from a formless piece of spiritual entity that _my _body was housing! Talk about ingratitude!

"Kikyo…" I said, almost threateningly. "You do know that if you can tap into my thoughts, _I _can tap into _yours_."

_**If you can do that, I see no point in this discourse.**_

With that, her voice was gone, and so was my patience. I opened my eyes, my gaze seeking, in desperation and sympathy, Sango. Already her face was pale and crumpled, as if she knew what had been the result of my pleading… er… _negotiations_. I slowly shook my head, for the benefit of the others.

"Damn!" Inu Yasha growled. "That Soul Eater won after all…"

Sango stepped forward then, waving a hand in the general direction of the horizon. "It's darkening," she said, in a frighteningly detached voice. "We need to have some food and rest ourselves, for the journey tomorrow." With that, she slung the Hiraikotsu over her back and started walking.

"But, Sango!" I called desperately. "Miroku… he must still be alive; we can't give up just like that…" My voice faded away at the sight of the look in her eyes- a look so defeated, so melancholy, so regretful and so _uncharacteristic,_ that it tore my heart and sealed my lips. Flames of despair hungrily licked at my soul, as I realised just another frightening truth:

With Miroku, we had lost Sango, as well.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

It was night.

I sat up in my sleeping bag, realising I'd never gotten the time, or the inclination before, to truly the appreciate the sheer _beauty _of the darkness of night. I wondered if it were dark in wherever Miroku was, too.

Most probably not.

This reasoning of mine startled me for a second, before the rest of my mind fell in sync with my thoughts. The dark was somewhat _soothing_, allowing me to think deeply about things I'd never thought of before. It fell across the land like a warm blanket on a cold night; the absence of anything to see around causing the eyes to turn inward -- soul-ward.

From what I knew, hell wasn't supposed to make you feel that way.

The last crackles of the ebbing fire threw light over the others' sleeping forms- even Inu Yasha was nearly fast asleep, exhausted by the day's events. I knew I should feel exhausted too, but I… just didn't. Sango's face was even more troubled than usual, and with abundant reason, and Kirara lay close to her, warming her, consoling her, even in sleep. Shippo lay in a rigid position against Kirara, his own eyebrows pulled together in an uncharacteristic frown. I felt sad- suddenly, overwhelmingly sad.

We had all changed.

I wondered if Kikyo had felt the same way when she had been resurrected. To see everything inexplicably changed- loyalties, positions, power, _love_… all culminating into a feeling of being lost, lonely, of being a misfit in a rapidly changing, cruel world.

I could empathise with her now, and not just because she was now a part of me.

Then _why_ couldn't I connect to her spiritually, like she could to me?

There _had _to be an answer to that, somewhere… but I doubted I could find it by dawn, when Miroku's death bells would finally toll.

Despair once again raking its vile claws over my fragile emotional state, I looked around again, determined to get my mind of these negative subjects.

In the absence of light to tell one thing from another, everything seemed one in the darkness. Shadows and the vague silhouettes of various unrecognisable things blended with each other, creating what seemed like an enormous modern portrait painted with different shades of black. One couldn't tell the difference between a huge tree, and just a harmless little rabbit-youkai curled up in sleep at the edge of the foliage. There was no rationale in what you saw, or seemed to see, in the darkness. Everything could be anything; anything could be everything. The barrier between reality and fantasy that light constructed, eroded during the night.

Suddenly, I wondered: Could that be the case with me and Kikyo? Like, whenever I tried to 'contact' her, I was too focused on material, rational changes- my mind, honed over the years for scientific thinking, could not reach into Kikyo's own mind. That must be it- the barrier. I'm expecting materialistic results without thinking about the spiritual processes involved- and I'm supposed to be a miko! Shaking my head and closing my eyes, I reached into myself again, not frantically calling, but _settling_, like sand trickling into the other end of an hourglass. Forgetting all reality, I _explored_.

A plethora of thoughts and images flashed like a kaleidoscope in front of me- of my family, childhood, school, crushes, adventures with Inu Yasha and the others… they surrounded me, nearly stifling me. I needed to go _beyond _myself- a difficult thing for a teenage girl under ordinary circumstances, yes, but I was _not _in normal circumstances; not by a long shot.

I finally found Kikyo- a dazzling orb of light tucked away in the deepest corner of my soul. Taking a virtual deep breath, I plunged into her thoughts.

They were even more numerous and frightening than mine (obviously!). Her thoughts- the most recent ones, anyway- were painted with blood, misery and loneliness; so much so that it pained my heart to know that I had thought extremely wrong of her before. Her love for Inu Yasha, brightening her earlier memories, was so moving that now I knew why, exactly, Inu Yasha still yearned for her so much. A pure soul- tainted by the vile tricks of the dastardly Naraku.

I entered a wider spectrum of her mind, suddenly quite lost in the vastness of her knowledge. I tried to stop myself from panicking, reminding myself that this was somewhat like a database in a computer- just search systematically, with proper guidelines to find the target.

Problem was, I was no good with computers.

I managed to find out, however, how exactly to counter a Soul Eater. It was easy, for it was one her most treasured knowledge. It didn't involve the usual Japanese magic using ofudas and such, but a completely different class of spiritual magic, which was a privilege to possess.

I came out of my trance, breathing heavily.

"Inu Yasha! Sango! Shippo!" I shouted in my excitement, scrambling to my feet. Inu Yasha was on his feet immediately, while the others took just a little more time. "What is it, Kagome?" Inu Yasha queried.

"I know it!" I said, my eyes sparkling, and the heat rushing to my face. "I know how to get Miroku back!"

It was like someone had just breathed life into Sango. Her pale face coloured with surprise and hope, and her brown eyes lit up. "That's… great, Kagome! What should you do?"

"I need to get to the remains of that tree," I said firmly. "As soon as possible."

_**Yes… the sooner the better…**_

Somehow, Kikyo's voice didn't surprise me. I knew that she knew that I had sifted through her knowledge and memories; her acceptance of the violation and her encouragement only served to increase my respect for her.

"Let's get going then," Sango said, hefting the Hiraikotsu over her back and climbing onto Kirara, who had already transformed in anticipation. Shippo and Inu Yasha nodded as well, the latter allowing me to scramble onto his back before he leapt through the forest, following Kirara, back to the clearing.

Inu Yasha landed next to the wooden splinters and formless trunk that had once been a part of the Soul Eater. I got down from his back, trying hard to hold back my nervousness. This was the first time I was going to attempt magic at this level, but I had Kikyo helping me, didn't I?

I arranged the broken splinters in a heap in front of the stub of a trunk. I reached into my quiver of arrows and taking out one, I pulled out its head, tossing the rest of the arrow aside. Cupping the arrowhead in my palms, I closed my eyes and began chanting, Kikyo's presence guiding the words my lips formed. Finally, the arrowhead began to glow with a strange blue flame.

"Er… Kagome?" Inu Yasha began uneasily.

"Ssh," I whispered to quieten him, and opened my eyes. I threw the glowing arrowhead into the remains of the tree, still chanting. The blue flame spread, consuming the remains, growing into a towering fire of magical flame. A void of blackness opened in the centre- small at first, but growing bigger and bigger with the towering flames to reach Inu Yasha's height.

"That, everybody," I said dramatically, turning to face them, "is the entrance to Miroku's … um…'hell'."

There was a stunned silence before Inu Yasha, with a hand on the handle of the Tetsusaiga, started forward. "Let's go, then!"

"Wait, Inu Yasha," I said, stopping him short. "Only one person can go through that opening."

He looked at me, then at the void in the flames. "It'll have to be me, then."

Before I could say anything, however, Sango's hand reached out and pulled Inu Yasha back by gripping the sleeve of his haori. "_No_," she said decisively. "I'm going."

"But Sango," Inu Yasha said, annoyed. "Who knows what's out there? And…"

"I'm a demon slayer," Sango said, her voice as cold as ice. "I have been _trained_ to deal with the unknown." With that, she stepped forward, Inu Yasha not being able to find his voice to counter her statement.

"Sango," I called, just before she went in. She turned, and I smiled a wistful smile at her. "Good Luck," I said. "Yeah… good luck in finding Miroku," Shippo echoed from beside me. "Feh," was all that came from an obviously annoyed Inu Yasha.

She smiled back- a smile hardened by determination and unbendable will. "Thank you," she said, and disappeared into the entrance, which closed behind her.

Nervous silence ensued as the magical flames continued to crackle, throwing shadows over our apprehensive faces. Kirara, having turned back into her smaller form, came up to me, mewing. I stroked her unconsciously, worried, myself. I could not keep up that flame for very long, and if Sango didn't find Miroku soon, both of them would be stuck forever in the lands of the dead… I could not even begin to imagine what the losses of both Miroku and Sango would do to the rest of the group…

I sighed, my restless fingers finding solace in Kirara's soft fur. "You have to make it, Sango," I whispered. "You just _have _to…"

Everything depended on Sango, now.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**_A/N:_** Thanks, as usual, reviewers! I've not been feeling very well lately, and most of this was written when I was feeling _especially_ bad. It seems nothing can drive me away from writing… Anyway, do let me know what you think of this!

And, Rivertam, to answer your question, I am a girl. (I had thought that that would be obvious…)


	9. Strength of the soul

**_A/N:_** An enormous hug and thanks to every person who've reviewed, or just read this story! Your fantastic reviews really make my day… so do read this chapter, review and let me know what you think of it!

_**Sango**_

Colours.

The entrance to the void was nothing but colours- merging and emerging in strange and beautiful ways. Fuchsia and azure melding with fluorescent highlights to fan out into green, with little traces of red like rivulets of blood flowed with borderlines of deep midnight blue, with starlike silver spots, and many other mystic colour combinations.

It wasn't what I'd expected at all.

I turned around to see if the entrance was still there; if Kagome had made some mistake. But the tunnel of colours seemed to stretch on for infinity behind and in front of me. Panic lashed like ocean waves during a tempest against the walls of my calm. What if Kagome _had_ made a mistake? What if I was stuck in this place forever?

Worse, what if Miroku died… without me?

The last thought sent a shudder through me that seemed to make my knees wobble, and my legs tempted to just crumble beneath me. With an incredible force of will I managed to stay upright, my fingers maintaining a white-knuckled grip on the Hiraikotsu; the rough and strong surface, washed over the years by countless demons' blood, acted like talisman- giving me strength, hope.

Breathing noisily through my nostrils, I took a step forward- and immediately the tunnel of moving, shifting colours dissolved, opening a great black abyss under my feet. I couldn't run. I couldn't move.

I couldn't even scream.

I just fell, fell, fell… the occasion reminding me, strangely, of a story Kagome had once told Shippo- of a girl who had fallen through a seemingly endless rabbit hole into a land of unending surprise and magic… In many ways, I could relate to that girl. I had fallen into the rabbit hole in search of Miroku's life, and whatever lay in wait for me at the end of the hole… only fate and perception could realise that.

Finally, I landed with a big _thud_, the dust of the ground around me rising like puffs of smoke; dispersing into the air. Coughing, I got to my feet slowly, clutching the Hiraikotsu, examining my body for any injuries and finding it to be absolutely unscathed. I was surprised. Having fallen down such a great height, shouldn't my body have shattered…?

I shook my head, trying to clear it of all questions. Of course it couldn't have shattered. Rational thinking served no use in this world… for the first time I found myself encouraging fantastical thoughts in my mind. After all, as Shippo had said, wasn't this hell just a figment of Miroku's mind, even if it was controlled by the Soul Eater?

Clearing my eyes of the last mites of dust, I looked around me. And once again, despite my now-increased capacity to accept the impossible, my jaw dropped slack with surprise. The 'hell'… it was…

Beautiful.

A meadow of flowers spread out in all directions, their bejewelled petals nearly shining in the soft, yellow sunlight. Insects flitted around, the flowers seemingly swaying to the orchestra of their melodious buzzing- the gentle, cool wind aiding them. A huge banyan tree, old and majestic looking with its gnarled, experienced trunk, proud green crown of dew-lined leaves and numerous hanging roots, stood in the middle of the meadow. Flowers grew in patterns of whorls around it. The sweet smell was nearly intoxicating. Now I _knew_ Kagome had made a mistake.

This just _couldn't_ be hell.

No…

It was just the place I'd dreamed to live all my life… with Miroku.

Heaven.

I waded through the flowers to reach the banyan tree. I put my hands out and ran them over the rough, strong, trunk, dropping the Hiraikotsu, a sense of peace and security washing over me. I smiled and revelled in that rare feeling, now leaning against the tree and sliding into a sitting position.

_I'd better wait here for Miroku_, I thought dreamily. _He'll be coming any moment, now…_

I closed my eyes, my mind filled with rosy visions of me and Miroku together. _We could live here together forever,_ I thought to myself. Yes… There would be no black hole, or Naraku, or demon attacks to worry about. Just Miroku and I… And nothing can- _will_- come in between us.

_Not even Kohaku?_

My eyes snapped open at the sly voice from the back of my mind. Kohaku…! He was still in the clutches of Naraku… my only surviving family… my throat clenched and I got to my feet, swaying.

I needed to get out of that place… it was doing something to me… needed to find Miroku…

At that exact moment, the sunlight stopped abruptly, as if a giant hand had covered it. The numerous flowers that had shone so beautifully and brightly in the sunlight now stooped in the darkness, their rotten petals oozing blood. Panic was winning the war against calm…

A great wind blew suddenly, bringing with it the stench of a bloodied demon battle-pit. The rotten flowers were torn off their fragile roots and were soon spinning around and around me like a monstrous hurricane.

Around and around the banyan tree it went, enveloping me as well into the eye. The dizzying speed nauseated me; gasping, I stepped backwards until my back hit the trunk of the tree. The low-hanging roots of the tree suddenly came to life, encircling my wrists and ankles in tight knots, pulling me up, leaving me hanging, like a dummy archery practice target.

I fought and struggled; but I soon discovered that the more I struggled, the more the roots tightened their hold on my limbs- nearly drawing blood. I had no choice but to hang slack, watching the speed of the hurricane building up into a crescendo. The closer I watched, the more the form of the rotten flowers seemed to change… forming something rounder, bigger… my curiosity turned to fascination when they turned into human heads, each one of them. And then that fascination turned to horror as each of the heads turned into that of Kohaku's.

I could notice the multiple heads grinning at me, even though they were moving at a very fast speed. A deep, eerie, echoing voice sounded from each one of them.

"Sango, listen! Father finally said that I could kill my first demon – I was coming with you on your assignment!"

"Oh, Kohaku," I whispered, tears welling up in my eyes.

"But you spoiled it," the voice continued. "You got me killed before I could prove myself to father… could prove me to my own self… why, sister…?"

"No, Kohaku!" I shouted, struggling again, ignorant of the pain that immediately shot through my limbs. "You're not dead… there's still hope for you… I'll save you!"

The voices laughed- a sad laugh, made scary by its endless echoing. "It's too late for me, sister," it said. "As it is for you…"

In front of my horrified eyes, the skin peeled away from every one of the heads and blood poured in torrents, splashing against my demon-slayer uniform. Soon the raw, red flesh disintegrated, and the eyeballs fell out; the hurricane of Kohaku's heads was now a hurricane of bloodied skulls, clanging against each other, the empty eye sockets seemingly leering at my hapless situation.

The horror… it was unbearable… panic and nausea finally won the war against my calm and composedness, and I let out a scream like I'd never let out before- the horror, the despair, the sadness, the _guilt_ all tumbled over each other as they came out in a single, high strain of my vocal cords. Immediately after that, I turned my head and vomited.

After that… outlet… I sagged in the tree's unrelenting grip, gasping, tears dripping to fall on the ground mixing with the puddles of blood. Blood and tears…

I had come to save Miroku, and I had ended up getting caught myself.

I had set out to avenge my village's massacre, and I had ended up dying in a creation of a Soul Eater.

I had tried to save my little brother, and I had ended up failing to even find him- find the _real_ him, not the ruthless Kohaku controlled by Naraku.

I had tried to assist my friends in their ambitions… and I had ended up feeding them with false hope and depriving them of valuable time and fighting.

I had _failed_.

The monstrous place only reminded me of it, forcing the realisation into my side likea white-hot needle. That pain was worse than any physical pain I had suffered, am suffering, or ever will suffer…

The place was hell.

_Hell…_ A blessed shred of sanity suddenly clamoured for attention within my despairing mind. _This is **my** hell… the fabrication that the Soul Eater has done for **me**…_

Of course! It had to be! Miroku wasn't here at all… I had to get out of my own personal hell to save him… the only question that remained was whether I could do it- escape out of the hell hole in time.

Ignoring the hurricane of skulls, I closed my eyes, trying to think. From what I could remember of Shippo's explanation, the cooping up of despairing and saddening emotions was what had allowed the Soul Eater to trap Miroku successfully in his hell. If I could get away from my own sadness and guilt, I might be able to escape and save Miroku.

But… how…?

Steeling my nerves and taking a deep breath, I clenched my eyelids over my eyes even harder. _Maybe thinking about something that would make me happy would do the trick…_What made me happy? But there were so many things that would make me happy… Kohaku returning back to me, with Miroku, the destruction of Naraku, Kagome, Inu Yasha and the others achieving their dreams…

I formed the picture of everyone together, happy and contented, in my head and concentrated as hard as I could on it. _Happy, satisfied, content…_

The hurricane did not abate.

Before I could slip into despair again, I forced myself to think harder about my situation. The fact that stood out that what I was seeing was not real- the very world I was in now was just a sliver of visual reality that the Soul Eater had morphed from my own vulnerable emotions. Real laws, rules, rationalism… none of them applied here. Emotions had more value than sensibility here…

Here was where the heart ruled, not the head.

The pure, clean rush of that realisation buoyed my soul and my spirits. Immediately I could feel the roots slackening ever so slightly. I reached within myself now and dispersed the now-bubbling happiness and more importantly, _hope_ around me. The darkness suddenly took on a rosy tinge and the hurricane spun faster and faster until it swallowed itself, taking the puddles of blood and all the gruesome skulls along with it.

The roots let go of me and I dropped to the ground, landing on my palms and knees. My 'hell' faded away into oblivion revealing where Miroku himself was. My nose crinkled at the red-black blood-pouring skies, the stench of death, and the vacuum of despair that prevailed. Hopefully Miroku was still alive…

Picking up the Hiraikotsu, I let my eyes roam over the wasted land, before I noticed a figure lying on the ground, and a golden gleam next to it. My heart lightened.

Miroku and his staff!

I ran toward him, nearly tripping over my own feet in my eagerness, before stopping to finally stand before his still form on the ground. I slid to my knees and placed his head in my lap. "Miroku…" I whispered.

I was truly concerned, for his pall, sweat and blood-drenched skin, the defeated, despaired look etched on his face… they scared me, to the point where I almost thought there was no hope for him anymore.

Almost.

"Come on, Miroku," I said plaintively. "Wake up…"

With great effort, it seemed, he finally opened his eyes. The vivid indigo of his irises were now nothing put pale hints to a shadow of what they used to be. They fell on my face, and immediately he slumped further. "Please Sango," he whispered hoarsely. "Don't do this to me anymore; go away…"

My eyes widened in surprise. What _had_ the damned Soul Eater done to him? If only I could get hold of that … creature… I would teach it lessons in pain no one should ever have to learn!

As if on cue, the wind blew stronger for a few moments, before the familiar dark figure of the Soul Eater towered before me. When it spoke, I could detect a faint hint of surprise:

"_So you escaped, demon slayer… you are stronger than I gave you credit for…_"

"Yes," I said through clenched teeth. "And so is Miroku. We will both escape your vile clutches, and banish you back into the darkness in which you belong!"

The creature laughed- a chilling laugh that sent shivers down my spine. "_Your bluster amuses me. Do you really think your poor monk is in any condition to recover? He is weak… a weak mortal, within **my** control._"

Anger welled up inside me and I was about to answer with a sharp retort, before my demon-slaying instincts picked up on a certain aura emanating from the Soul Eater. I smiled- a cold, hard smile.

"You're in hardly any position to talk about others' weakness when _you_ are so weak…"

Anger gathered around the silhouette. "_You dare not say another word, infidel…_"

"Oh, I will," I said. "It was Sesshoumaru destroying that tree that was your major blow, wasn't it? And your plan to use Kikyo to separate us also backfired, didn't it?"

Now I _knew_ I had angered the Soul Eater. A web of dark energy surrounded it, crackling and shimmering, reflecting off the drops of blood, encasing it in a mystical, dark, red aura. I merely smiled. This was the first sign of vulnerability from the Soul Eater- a sign foretelling, no doubt, its imminent defeat. I looked down at Miroku's pale face and brushed back his limp hair, trying to feed some of my own hope into him. He would need all the help he can get.

The real battle had just begun.

* * *

**_A/N:_** 'Tis almost over… only one more chapter remaining!

… Okay. I don't know whether to bawl or celebrate…


	10. Homecoming

_**Miroku**_

Warmth, from within the darkness.

It encircled me, bringing with it the fading memories of a familiar human touch- a touch that I had once experienced, yearned for, revelled in, wished that I could sustain through eternity… a touch that brought back fond memories of infatuation, love, admiration… a touch that belonged to…

_Sango._

No… Sango? Was this another trick of the evil that had me captured? Was it another white-hot reminder of the failure I had been?

"Miroku…" her voice whispered in my ear, the warmth and the love with which it was spoken tingling the numbed nerves. I forced open my eyes yet again, to gaze into her concerned brown orbs. She smiled faintly, running her fingers through my sweat and blood-drenched hair. "Have faith," she whispered, and looked up. With great difficulty, I followed her gaze to have my eyes rest upon the irate apparition of the Evil. So… Sango was not an illusion?

Was there even a sliver of hope?

"_You cannot hope to defeat me, demon-slayer, however weak you claim that I have become. This world is of my creation, and everything that is in it answers to **my** call._"

Sango laughed- her laugh short and bitter. "You may bluster all you want, Soul Eater, but it is action that counts for anything."

The halo of burning anger intensified around the evil and it raised its arms. "_You will get what you ask for, you pathetic mortal_." To illustrate its point, the ground around us started to crack, shake and heave- like waves of a raging sea. Sango's lap disappeared from beneath my head as she was thrown back. Helpless- absolutely unable to move- I fell back on the ground.

The evil moved forward, the beginnings of a smirk on its vile face. "_Your agony will finally be complete, monk, for you and your beautiful helper._"

"Miroku!" Sango called from a distance. "Get up! I can't do this on my own!"

_Get up…?_ I couldn't even move!

"Please, Miroku..." Sango's voice pleaded. "I… I… _need_ you- for everything! Don't give up on yourself, me, on _us_!"

On us… The memories of her love came back, stronger than ever. A kaleidoscope of colours flashed before me- the yellow of a sunny day, the fresh green of dew-lined grass, the feel of a delicate hand on my own, the smell of jasmine entwined in silken black hair, the gurgle of streams and a firm, a sweet voice instructing me on 'proper manners' among women… memories that lightened my spirits, reminding me that there _was_ indeed something to live for.

My hand slowly reached for my staff, fingers finally closing over the cold steel. Very slowly, in jerky, stiff movements, using the staff as a support, I forced myself back onto my feet.

I got up.

The feeling of standing up- holding your chin high and suddenly exposing your eyes to a wider panorama of vision- was by itself an exhilarating one, forcing strength back up my limbs.

The Soul Eater advanced. "_You're not going any further…_"

Without even fully comprehending what I was doing, I put up my staff before me in a horizontal stance, and then swirled it forward when the Soul Eater came within range. It made ringing contact with the Soul Eater, nearly numbing my already-weak arms, pushing it back a few inches. But it wasn't that that had caused triumph to well up within me; it was the spontaneous feeling of incredulity that had emanated from the Evil.

I had _defied _it.

Sango ran up beside me, her eyes filled with tears of joy. "I knew you could do it, Miroku."

But the battle, by itself, was far from over- a fact well expressed by the Soul Eater's next move – another wave of its hands.

Shivering, growing nodes appeared in a circle in the ground around Sango and I, cracking and emitting hideous, ominous noises. Then out of each of them sprang out a hideous monster, with fangs as long as the Tetsusaiga and skins as thick as Inu Yasha's head. The circle of monsters closed in on us.

With a familiar battle grunt, Sango swung the Hiraikotsu, obliterating the front line of those demons… only to have many more following them. Many more strokes of the Hiraikotsu followed, with me swinging my staff to provide the little help I could.

But it was just _useless_.

One of the monsters, breaking through Sango's defence, tore at her arm, drawing blood and causing her to drop her weapon. I, in a stupid move, swirled around to 'aid' Sango, only to have a demon rake its claws viciously in my side. Screaming in pain, I dropped to my knees, the still-drizzling drops of blood mingling with my own.

The Hiraikotsu was thrown aside; the staff was lost in the throng of monsters that swooped in like vultures on a carcass to take advantage of our helpless state.

"_You have lost, demon-slayer_," the Evil said. "_Your confident words have been proved as being nothing but empty phrases in the face of my power…_"

"Revise your facts, Soul Eater," Sango said through clenched teeth, gripping my arm in a white-knuckled grip. I closed my eyes in silent pain as her fingernails dug deep into my skin, and when I opened them… there was nothing.

The monsters had disappeared.

_How…?_ I looked at her in awe. Sango got to her feet. "A land like this is not the sole property of a creature like you, Soul Eater- it is part of a human's imagination, a product of his worst fears." She smirked. "And so are you, in fact. It was no great difficulty to manipulate your creations by using my own imagination."

Now coming from the Soul Eater was blatant surprise. "_Once again you have undermined my enemy estimation capabilities by your strength and presence of mind, demon-slayer… but you have not yet won the war._"

With that, the chill increased- a chill that even Sango couldn't alleviate… a chill in which I was drowning…

Sango came next to me, and with one arm encircling my shoulders, she took my right hand in her other hand and placed it over my heart, even as the chill froze the drops of blood, leaving them suspended in mid-air as tear-shaped red tinged crystals. My teeth chattered.

She came even closer to me, pressing her warm body against mine. "You have to live, Miroku," she said, her own voice holding an undercurrent of shivering from the cold. "You have to live because everyone needs you… because _I_ need you…"

"But I have done nothing but fail you," I whispered hoarsely.

"And we you, if you think that way," she said, looking up at me earnestly, the corners of her lips already turning blue. "Our day will come, Miroku, and we'll keep fighting for it- together."

"T-to-together…" I murmured.

"Everyone has gone through so much to bring you back, Miroku… isn't the fact that the usage of Kikyo and even Sesshoumaru to break us up ended up working against the Soul Eater, an example of the love that bonds us all? That bonds us?"

What she had said now was news to me, but also strangely touching. Everybody had done so much to bring me back… my friends must have gone through a lot of trials just to save my life…

I realised then, that the greatest sin I could commit was to put their sacrifices to waste, by staying any longer in the hell.

I could feel frostbite beginning to extend itself over my fingers, and the cold freeze my limbs, and do the same to Sango… question was, was it too late for us to get out of there? Would we be frozen together in this embrace for eternity, only to be separated when the fiery pits of the underworld melted the ice?

"M-Miroku," Sango murmured, the chill sapping her strength and senses. "I love you…"

The statement galvanised me suddenly, and I looked down at her. She smiled tiredly, before leaning her head on my chest. "I love you, Miroku," she repeated, her voice low and husky.

A smile crossed my features and I rested my cheek on her head, suddenly not caring if we were stuck here forever- as long as we were together, frozen through time and space in this beautiful moment. I tightened the embrace, speaking the next few words in the most heartfelt and intense tones that I had ever used in my life.

"I love you, as well."

I don't think either of us were prepared for happened next.

With a sound that reminded one of a thousand Sacred Jewels breaking, the frozen drops of blood shattered, the high-frequency sound piercing our eardrums. I could hear the Soul Eater gasping. "_No… it's impossible… you two are not supposed to…_"

"Maybe you just didn't know Miroku as well you claimed to," Sango murmured, the after-effects of the cold still blurring her senses.

That was wrong, I thought. Maybe _I_ hadn't known _myself_ as well as I had claimed to do…

I pulled Sango closer.

The chill dissipated faster.

A light seemed to shine from within us, spreading around our unified bodies like a golden halo, radiating warmth like the sun. It soon obscured the black-red of the sky, the rugged, blood-soaked terrain… and finally the dark aura of the Soul Eater, revealing its true form for once. I glanced at it, and I gasped.

I was looking into a mirror image of myself.

The Soul Eater –nothing but a part of me – faded away into the glare of the golden light- the glare of our love, lips open in a silent scream.

And then it was gone forever.

The light faded away, to leave us standing on solid ground in the real world, faint specks of dawn touching the night sky. Sango and I stepped apart a couple of inches, blinking our eyes, reorienting ourselves. Hardly had we done so, when a hurricane struck us.

"Miroku! Sango!" the hurricane, that was Kagome, said, throwing herself upon us in delight. "You did it! You escaped!" Shippo jumped upon my shoulder as well, and Kirara rubbed herself against her mistress, mewing in relief. "Feh," was what came from Inu Yasha. "It's a good thing, then; we don't have to waste anymore time here."

I smiled in unrestrained delight; I was back home.

Having finally got over the initial pleasantries and warm homecomings, I inquired them of what had happened. Kagome told me everything- interrupted occasionally by Shippo- and I listened, enraptured. So much had gone on in the real world… things that would've taken years to happen all happened in one day…

Sometimes, the worst experiences were the only things that could bring out the best in you. Kikyo's fusion with Kagome, Sesshoumaru's unexpected helping hand, the destruction of the Soul Eater's main contact with the outside world- the tree… Sango saving me and we finding our true feelings for one another… I was suddenly inclined to think that the Soul Eater was of Buddha's doing- to nudge us in the direction in which our true destinies lay, and not to let our own petty stubbornness destroy the goal for which we were born to achieve.

I was thankful that no one asked for my side of the story.

I turned toward Sango, who was still standing by my side, clutching my arm. "I can't thank you enough, Sango, _all _of you… this is… it's… _overwhelming_."

Kagome smiled. "What is so overwhelming about it, monk… I mean… Miroku… after all, that's what friends are for, right?"

"That's right." Right in more ways than I could fathom. Meaning had come back into my life- it had shown itself prominently before me, lit by the golden backdrop of friendship and love- a love that had defeated all odds. I embraced Sango again.

Inu Yasha himself put an arm around a beaming Kagome's shoulders, both of them having found the answer to the quandary that had threatened to drown their happiness forever. Shippo stood by Kirara, straight-backed and proud, having proved himself in matters of the brain and heart. I knew Sesshoumaru was somewhere out there, watching us, probably contemplating on new realisations.

It was perfect.

Each one of us will remember this day for aeons to come, surely, for this was the day that had changed our lives irreversibly- for the better. Each of us had faced unimaginable trials, the greatest of odds… but the friendship and love that binds all of us stood up to those odds, toppling them, burying them within the sands of time, only to be brought up as vague nightmares in the future- as reminders of what we had overcome. Emotion welled up inside me.

A single tear traced a path down my cheek and onto Sango's hair.

Here was where I belonged: here was family, here was compassion, friendship; here was love. Its light will illuminate a singular path to our glowing destinies, and we will travel it together. Only one path will lead us to one destiny…

And all else will fade.

_**Finis **_


End file.
